In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, in June of the sixth year of Chongde of the Qing Dynasty (1641), Huang Taiji learned in Shengjing that the Ming Dynasty had sent 100,000 reinforcements to support Jinzhou. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Huang Taiji since the beginning of spring, his body has deteriorated, his nose often bleeds, and two months ago, his favorite concubine Hai Lanzhu fell seriously ill and died, which caused a heavy blow to Huang Taiji's body and mind.

At this time, Huang Taiji was holding his body on the main hall and summoned the ministers. Fan Wencheng, Sony, Duoduo, Dai Shan and other Manchu ministers couldn't help but shed tears when they saw Huang Taiji's tired demeanor and said, "I hope the emperor will take care of the dragon body for me, don't work anymore." ”

Huang Taiji waved his hand and signaled, "Now that the Ming Kingdom has sent Hong Chengchou to Jinzhou with an army of 100,000, I can't rest assured." I hope you will think of a way, is it to fight or to withdraw? I want to hear what you mean. ”

Sonny bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the Ming Kingdom sent 100,000 troops, and the momentum was unstoppable, and the Rufeng Mountain was taken in a battle. ”

Huang Taiji listened to his head and said, "Sony's words are reasonable." ”

Dai Shan on the side also agreed, "Your Majesty, my Eight Banners have sent four banners, and now there is only half of the domestic troops, if you want to fight with the Ming State again, that is to raise the country's troops and the Ming State to fight a decisive battle, the minister thinks that it is not yet the time for the decisive battle, and the minister also thinks that the siege of Jinzhou will be stopped, and the next day will be calculated." ”

The other Manchu generals on the side nodded yes.

Fan Wencheng hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, the old minister has a word. The 100,000 troops of the Ming Dynasty are true, and the combat power is not bad, but have you ever thought about it, if my Qing Dynasty can defeat the 100,000 army of the Ming Dynasty this time, what a good opportunity it will be for my Qing Dynasty to attack the Central Plains in the future! ”

When Huang Taiji heard this, his pale face flushed, and he said excitedly, "Master Fan, please continue." ”

Fan Wencheng continued, "You all know that now the Ming country is full of thieves, and the Ming army's army is running around in order to exterminate the thieves, and most of the troops are involved in various parts of the Central Plains, however, the Ming army that came to the aid this time is the elite of the Ming country, and defeating this army is equivalent to cutting off an arm of Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Kingdom. ”

When everyone in the Manchu Dynasty heard this, they felt that what Fan Wencheng said was reasonable, and even Manchu magnates such as Sony and Dai Shan, who originally advocated the withdrawal of troops, nodded one after another. Han officials Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, Geng Jingzhong, He Ning Wan me, Ma Guozhu and others were overjoyed when they heard this, look, I am still a Han official with brains and broad horizons.

"But Mr. Fan, isn't this a little too risky? Raising the strength of the whole Qing Dynasty to fight a decisive battle with the 100,000 troops of the Ming Dynasty is the key to the fortunes of our dynasty. Dai Shan stroked the beard.

"What Prince Li said about the old minister's plan for the country, of course the lower officials know the risks of this battle." Fan Wencheng smiled, "But where is there no risk in fighting?" Then it depends on whether my Daqing can fight him, and everyone knows that this Ming army is full of factions, unlike my Daqing warriors, who work together and work together. ”

Huang Taiji pondered for a long time and asked, "If I can also send 100,000 troops, what does Scholar Fan think the Qing Dynasty has a chance of winning?" ”

When the ministers heard this, they couldn't close their mouths in surprise and said, "One hundred thousand? Can I gather 100,000 troops so quickly at this time in the Qing Dynasty? ”

Fan Wencheng said decisively: "If the emperor can gather 100,000 troops, the minister thinks that there is a six-point chance of winning." ”

"Huh? Why is it only six points? Huang Taiji was puzzled.

Fan Wencheng bowed and said, "Originally, the minister felt that there was a chance of winning by seven or eight points, but the Yongming King of the Ming Kingdom was in this Ming army, and the minister subtracted one or two points. ”

Huang Taiji smiled dumbly and said, "Could it be that Scholar Fan actually values the Yongming King of the Ming Kingdom to such an extent, but even if this Yongming King has great ability, I will let him have no return!" ”

Then Huang Taiji stood up suddenly, blushed and said, "I decided to fight to the death with the Ming Kingdom, and ordered the four flags of the Yellow Flag, the Red Flag, the Red Flag, and the White Flag to send 40,000 troops, the Han Eight Banners to send 20,000 troops, and the Meng Eight Banners to send 20,000 troops, and then to inform the Korean State to send 5,000 troops, and to arrive in Jinzhou within a month, and I want to personally conquer Jinzhou!" ”

Huang Taiji returned to Concubine Zhuang's palace, Concubine Zhuang is the famous Empress Xiaozhuang in history, she is the sister of the late Concubine Hai Lanzhu, and gave birth to the eighth son Fulin for Huang Taiji. Huang Taiji came to see Concubine Zhuang, not how much he doted on Concubine Zhuang, although Concubine Zhuang was also very beautiful, but Huang Taiji came to see her because her face was somewhat similar to Hai Lanzhu.

Concubine Zhuang also knows how to be proportionate, and knows that Huang Taiji misses her sister Hai Lanzhu in her heart, and she has been more diligent during this time, so she often comforts Huang Taiji with gentle whispers, which makes Huang Taiji inevitably value her a little, and her eighth son Fulin is less than two years old, and he looks very cute like a dough, and Huang Taiji is a lot of joy in his heart. Just as he was about to tease Fu Lin in Concubine Zhuang's arms, a eunuch hurriedly ran to report, "Your Majesty, the prince is back." ”

"What? How did Haug come back? Huang Taiji said angrily, "The war ahead is tight, why didn't he return to Shengjing without sealing the edict, it was really audacious!" ”

The eunuch whispered, "I heard that the prince's biological mother, Ulanara, is seriously ill, and the prince returned to Beijing to visit her. ”

This Haoge's biological mother Ulanala was originally the step-concubine of Huang Taiji, and her status in the palace was high, second only to Dafu Jin Zhezhe, but she was not favored, and then because she violated the ancestral system set by Nurhachi in the palace, she was deposed by Huang Taiji and sent back to her mother's house, and was not allowed to enter the palace to meet.

Huang Taiji remembered that when he negotiated peace not long ago, Dolgon secretly reported that Hauge had said that he should be "when I am a puppet", and he was even more annoyed, although Huang Taiji also knew that Dolgon's move was intended to instigate the father-son relationship between himself and Hauge, but now was the time to suppress Hauge, so he ordered that "Hauge returned to Beijing without sealing the edict, and put the war ahead like child's play, and he could no longer assume the position of the prince." Immediately cut off the position of Prince Haoge, demoted him to the king of the county, and told him to go to Jinzhou immediately to make meritorious contributions! ”

Haoge, who was still visiting his mother in his grandfather's mansion, was shocked after receiving the will of Huang Taiji, and his position as prince was lost because of visiting his seriously ill mother.

At this time, Zhou Renyuan was arguing with the generals in Hong Chengchou's big tent, Zhou Renyuan and Hu Dawei, Wu Sangui insisted on taking advantage of the victory to pursue, and immediately went to attack the Qing soldiers in Linghe. Hong Chengchou insisted that although the Qing army was only 40,000 left, a tight defensive position had been established in Linghe Town, and field warfare was not the strength of the Ming army.

Cao Wenzhao and other Liaodong generals saw that the superintendent and the superintendent had different opinions, so they didn't dare to speak out, but were silent. His Ning Yuan army had already fought with Aobai, and seeing that the Qing soldiers were doing well, they didn't dare to attack rashly for a while.

Zhou Renyuan's mouth was dry at this time, and he persuaded Hong Chengchou to say, "Master Governor, I also know that this Tartar has established a defensive position, but their number is only 40,000, it is a good time for our army to attack with troops, our army has a large number of firearms, first use Hongyi cannons and Furlong machines to bombard the Tartar camp, and then use firecrackers and archers to weaken the Tartar cavalry, and then our cavalry will be killed, there is a great chance of victory!" ”

Hong Chengchou said with a smile, "Although what the prince said makes sense, but has the prince ever thought that most of the 40,000 Tartars are cavalry, Linghe Town is open, not as good as this pine mountain, tower mountain, the mountain is high and steep, if the Tartars spread out this cavalry, even if our army has a large number of firearms, can it block this Tartar cavalry group from attacking our army?" Once the Tartar cavalry enters our army's formation, even if there are firearms, our army will be defeated, not to mention that there are elite cavalry in my army that compete with the Tartars? As he spoke, he looked around at the generals in the tent, and all the generals lowered their heads and did not dare to speak.

Zhou Renyuan saw this scene and sighed in his heart, "These are the elite of my Ming army's famous generals, and they can only fight with the wind, and no one dares to fight to the death with the Tartar cavalry." He was disappointed and said, "It seems that this king really doesn't know how to fight, but I didn't expect that none of my Ming would dare to fight with the Tartar cavalry." Anyway, please ask the superintendent to hand over my 2,000 cavalry from Hengzhou to this king, and then please transfer the 3,000 cavalry of the He Renlong Department under the command of Wu Xiang's old military gate, and the 3,000 cavalry under the command of Wu Sangui under Shanhaiguan to me, and I will bring 8,000 cavalry to be the vanguard to resist the Tartar cavalry. ”

As soon as Hong Chengchou and the generals heard something, eight thousand cavalry went to resist twenty or thirty thousand Tartar cavalry, and the little prince was so angry that he hurriedly persuaded him, "Don't be rash, it's better to think long-term!" The prince wants soldiers, and the governor can agree, knowing that the prince is quite strategic in using soldiers, but this vanguard still stops! Hong Chengchou replied with a bad face.

Zhou Renyuan replied, "Inspector Hong, generals, it's not that this king wants to grab this military power, but once you miss the opportunity, wait for the Tartar army to come to help, and then it's too late to regret it!" Besides, this king wants this cavalry to unite into a battle, not fight separately, so that he can fight with the Tartar cavalry! ”

Hong Chengchou's face was a little pale, and he nodded, "What the prince said is reasonable, and only by screwing the cavalry together, can the combat power be doubled, and the prince is good at using cavalry, okay, according to the prince's will, the cavalry will be allocated to the prince!" As for whether to fight or defend, we will discuss it another day. ”

The generals in the camp left the Chinese army's tent with different expressions, and Hong Chengchou stopped Zhou Renyuan and said, "Lord Wang, please stay, the lower officials have something to discuss with the prince." ”

When Zhou Renyuan heard this, he stayed. Hong Chengchou ordered someone to change the hot tea, personally served it to Zhou Renyuan, and said earnestly: "Lord Wang, the lower officials know that the prince is angry. It's not that the lower officials are unwilling to attack the Tartars of Linghe, but the prince knows that the will of this court is to relieve the siege of Jinzhou, not to fight to the death with the Tartars. Besides, among the generals in this battalion, which one is willing to throw all his belongings in Jinzhou, Lord Wang, don't look at a few generals who have asked for battle, it is because we have just won the battle and won Rufeng Mountain. But if it's really time to fight with the Tartars, you also saw it just now, who will take the initiative to take their own army to spend with the Tartars? The lower officials were also helpless, so they could only slowly hold on to each other with the Tartars, and when the Tartars couldn't spend it one day, they took the initiative to withdraw the army. I'm done! ”

Zhou Renyuan listened, his heart was sad and helpless, and said, "Master Inspector, your thoughts are just wishful thinking, if the Tartars refuse to retreat, they will also hold on to our army, once the Tartar army comes to help, then will we fight or defend?" Besides, can our army be supplied with food and grass? ”

Hong Chengchou was stunned for a long time when he heard this, and said with a wry smile: "Don't hide it from the prince, Xiaguan has prepared more than a year's worth of grain and grass for the army with the army this time, and it is all stored on the Bijia Mountain, and three thousand elite guards have been dispatched. As for the Tartars really sending troops to the rescue, they can only take one step at a time, and when the time comes, the old man will throw this old bone in Liaodong! ”

Zhou Renyuan came to the map, looked at the location of Bijia Mountain, close to the Huluwan seaside, behind Songshan and Tashan, nodded and said, "The location of this Jiashan is well chosen, surrounded by mountains on three sides, and is leaned against the sea." It is not easy for the Tartars to get grain, so for the sake of insurance, we can send the sailors of the Zhaoyi general Zheng Chenggong to guard the sea to prevent the Tartars from copying our grain routes from the sea. ”

Hong Chengchou was overjoyed when he heard this, and said, "If there is a sailor guarding the grain road, then this grain and grass will be even more foolproof." ”

Zhou Renyuan saw that he couldn't change Hong Chengchou's attention, so he had to train his 9,000 cavalry every day. The later 1,000 cavalry was specially transferred to Zhou Renyuan by Hong Chengchou from Hu Dawei's Datong Army, which was Hong Chengchou's finishing touch. Because Zhou Renyuan himself had 2,000 Hengzhou cavalry, 3,000 from Wu Sangui, and 3,300 from his Xuanfu army, only the Datong soldiers and Liaodong soldiers were missing, the Liaodong soldiers were local soldiers, and the troops were originally insufficient, but Zhou Renyuan did not have Datong soldiers, Hong Chengchou ordered to transfer 1,000 Datong cavalry to him in order to appease other generals, so that Zhou Renyuan's subordinates gathered cavalry from different places, if Zhou Renyuan's cavalry was in danger, these different factions of the army could watch their colleagues stay out of the matter?

While Zhou Renyuan was training the cavalry, he was also wielding a big knife, which was given to him by Yang Tinglin not long ago, and it was Lu Xiangsheng's relic. Yang Tinglin's request to keep this big knife is also to commemorate Lu Xiangsheng, who has been carried in the army, and it happened that Zhou Renyuan felt that although his sword was sharp, he always felt inappropriate to fight on a horse, so Yang Tinglin transferred this knife to Zhou Renyuan.

Zhou Renyuan waved the big knife, he didn't feel it difficult at all, and he waved it vigorously, Yang Tinglin looked at it from the side and said in his heart, "There is a successor to Inspector Lu's treasure knife." ”

Just a month after Zhou Renyuan trained his cavalry, Huang Taiji's 80,000 reinforcements were heading for Jinzhou. Hong Chengchou was greatly surprised when he heard the news, and hurriedly summoned all the generals to the tent to discuss the matter.

"I regret not listening to the words of the prince, now the Tartar army has really arrived, and there are a total of 130,000 people who have joined the Tartars of Linghe." Hong Chengchou stomped his feet.

The generals looked at each other when they heard this, and said one after another, "This Tartar is a soldier of the whole country, and a big war is inevitable." ”

Zhou Renyuan instead comforted Hong Chengchou and said, "Supervisor, now that the matter has come to this, regret is useless, let's discuss how to meet the enemy." ”

Hong Chengchou breathed a long sigh of relief and said, "What the prince said is that although the governor now has an army of 100,000, the Tartars are pouring out, so they can only defend tightly and wait for the opportunity. ”

Then he said to the generals, "The generals listen to the order and defend their respective defenses tightly." If you are a rash attacker, slash! ”

Huang Taiji has arrived in Linghe Town, he kept wiping his nosebleeds, he led the army to set off ten days ago, he was afraid that the Ming army would raid the Linghe Qing army, so he rode a horse and galloped wildly, nosebleeds continued to flow out, so he had to use a bowl to continue, and received five bowls along the way. When they arrived at Linghe, they saw that Dolgon and Zilharang and other soldiers were unharmed, and a stone fell to the ground.

"Prince Rui, Prince Zheng, what is the situation of the Ming army on the other side?" The crown prince asked weakly while lying on the bright yellow couch of the big tent.

"Your Majesty, after the Ming army on the opposite side occupied Rufeng Mountain, relying on this mountain, a number of artillery pieces were placed on it, and Songshan and Tashan were connected into a line. The Ming army camped between the valleys of Songshan and Tashan, where the mountains were high and steep, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the Ming army took the lead in the geographical advantage. Dolgon hurriedly spread out the map and showed it to Huang Taiji.

Huang Taiji got up slightly, glanced at the map, nodded and said, "This Hong Chengchou really knows the soldiers, occupies a dangerous place in the mountains, my cavalry can't be used, raise the strengths and avoid the shortcomings, Hong Chengchou is a talent." ”

"How's Jinzhou doing?" Huang Taiji then asked.

"Since the defeat of the subordinate brother and retreat to Linghe, the grain and grass in Jinzhou have been replenished by the Ming army, and it will be difficult to fight again." Dorgon said with some shame.

"It's not your fault, you don't have to blame yourself." Huang Taiji comforted him, he still needs a fierce general like Dolgon at this time, if he hadn't seen through Dolgon's eyesight on this throne, maybe he really wanted to regard him as a confidant. It's a pity, Dorgon, you're too ambitious. "Fourteenth brother, I brought the Manchurian and Mongolian and Korean 80,000 troops this time, and also brought Kong Youde and their Han Eight Banners, you just see how I defeat this Hong Chengchou."

Dolgon was overjoyed when he heard this, and said, "With the artillery of the Shunyi King and their Han Eight Banners, our army is like a tiger with wings, and the defeat of the Ming army is just around the corner." ”

This hole is virtuous, still gratifying, Geng Jingzhong's Han Eight Banners, the powerful thing is artillery, they surrendered to Huang Taiji back then, and brought many craftsmen. It can also make Hongyi cannons, although the quality is not as good as the Ming army, but it is also about the same, the number is quite large, this time Huang Taiji brought thirty or forty artillery, specifically to deal with Hong Chengchou and Zhou Renyuan.

After a day's rest, Huang Taiji got up and personally led his army to Jinzhou, and the armies of Dolgon and Zilharang re-encircled Jinzhou.

Zu Dashou and others in the city were shocked and hurriedly went to the city to defend against the enemy. Zu Dashou saw the dense Qing army under the city tower, and sighed, "Then I will be buried here?" ”

Huang Taiji climbed a mountain peak, looked at the Ming army camp, and said to Kong Youde beside him, "King Shunyi, you can place artillery on the mountain opposite Rufeng Mountain, and you must suppress the Ming army artillery on the opposite mountain." ”

When Kong Youde heard this, he asked, "Could it be that the emperor wants to recapture Rufeng Mountain?" ”

Huang Taiji nodded and said, "Yes, this Rufeng Mountain is equivalent to the gateway of Jinzhou, condescending, and now it is occupied by the Ming army, which is my confidant." ”

"By the way, can you find out where the grain and grass of this Ming army are stored?" Huang Taiji then asked Dorgon.

Dolgon replied, "The grain and grass of the Ming army are stored on Bijia Mountain behind Songshan, which is surrounded by mountains on three sides and backed by the sea, and it is not easy to attack. ”

Huang Taiji listened and bowed his head and pondered for a moment, "The location chosen by Hong Chengchou is really good, with his back to the sea?" Go to a local and ask, is there a way to get to the bottom of Beacon Hill by sea? ”

A Han military general came out from behind Kong Youde, bowed down and replied, "Your Majesty, the last general knows that when the sea behind the mountain is at low tide, as long as our army sends troops to attack Bijia Mountain at low tide, we will definitely be able to take this mountain." ”

Huang Taiji was overjoyed when he heard this, and said, "Really? What is your name? How do you know so clearly? ”

The general embarrassedly said with a smile, "The last general's name is Fang Siming, and he used to be a pirate. ”

Huang Taiji laughed when he heard this, "If it is really as you said, there is a time for the ebb tide in Beacon Mountain, I will promote you by two levels, and reward you with a good horse and a hundred taels of gold." And your name has to be changed, you will be called Fang Siqing in the future! ”

The military general was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly knelt on the ground and shouted, "The last general, Fang Siming, oh no, Fang Siqing, thank you to the emperor, the last general is willing to break his bones for the Qing Dynasty, and he will not give up!" ”

When the other Han officials heard this, they all looked at Fang Siqing with envious eyes, while Dolgon said sourly in his heart on the side: "This fourth brother is really far from winning people's hearts." ”

The generals listened to the order, and I decided to attack the Ming army three days later, with the attack on Jinzhou as bait, but in fact to attack Rufeng Mountain, which was led by Prince Zheng Zierharang and Prince Yu Duoduo, Rufeng Mountain was attacked by the Mongolian Eight Banners and the Korean army led by the county king Haoge and Belenikan, and the king of Shunyi led the Han Eight Banners artillery to support the attack on Rufeng Mountain. Azig, the king of Wuyingjun, led 10,000 horses to make a detour to Songshan to attack Beacon Mountain. The rest of the generals followed me as the central army's suppressor. Huang Taiji ordered.

The generals said loudly: "Obey the emperor's will!" ”

Zhou Renyuan and Hong Chengchou also climbed Rufeng Mountain at this time, and saw that the Qing army generals gathered on a mountain opposite, and a bright yellow canopy loomed on the top of the mountain. The two of them sank in their hearts, glanced at each other, and Huang Taiji personally led the troops!

The two hurriedly returned to the camp and kept transferring troops to punish the generals, both of them knew that a big war that would decide the fate of the Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing was about to break out!