In the early morning of March 11, the 46th year of Wanli, the torch burned in the sky, the weapons were sonorous, and the general army of Daming Mountain Customs, Du Song, led 28,000 soldiers from Shenyang, crossed the Fushun Pass and crossed the Wuling Mountains on the same day, and arrived on the left bank of the Hunhe River before noon.

Chai Guodong, the staff general in command of the car artillery battalion, reported to Juniper: "The muddy river is deep and rapid, and the chariot soldiers enter the water, and it is difficult to cross empty-handed, and the gunpowder of the vehicles cannot be crossed." ”

Juniper was very interested in the clairvoyant mirror that Zhang Yuan sent him, and the captains and deputy captains of several sentinels were equipped with clairvoyants, and he himself carried a pair of white copper clairvoyant mirrors, which were used to observe across the river at this time, and saw that there were captives and horsemen on the opposite bank of Nanshan, so he ordered to speed up the crossing of the river to seize the high ground on the opposite bank, and the car and artillery battalion could be slightly slowed down, so that Chai Guodong could find another way to cross the river.

However, Chai Guodong did not actively try to cross the river when Juniper crossed the river to engage the enemy army, and ordered to camp on the left bank, and did not send anyone to report to Juniper on the other bank.

After Jun Song crossed the river, the forward troops immediately attacked the Houjin army village on the South Mountain, these two military villages were guarded by 40 Houjin foot soldiers, the guerrilla Wang Hailong took the lead, led his troops to conquer the two villages, killed 26 Jiannu, captured 14 people, and the Ming army also had dozens of casualties.

From the mouth of the Jiannu captives, it was learned that Nurhachi was sending people to transport stones to build the city in front of Salhu, which was defended by cavalry, and the scouts sent by the Ming army also reported that there were tens of thousands of people building the city on the Jiefan Mountain in the northeast of Salhu, and there were cavalry guards under the mountain, the number of which is unknown, and it is estimated that there are no more than 500 people.

Jun Song discussed with Wang Xuan, the chief soldier of Baoding, Zhao Menglin, the general soldier of Liao, and Zhang Quan, the supervisor of Liao, to occupy Jiefan Mountain as soon as possible and clear the road to Hetuala, otherwise he would not be able to rush to Erdaoguan to join Li Rubai's Southern Route Army as agreed.

None of the generals objected. Juniper immediately led the march with Wang Xuan and Zhao Menglin. Zhang Quan, the superintendent of the army, supervised the heavy firearms in the back. At this time, it was discovered that Chai Guodong, the general of the car battalion, was still on the opposite bank along with the artillery vehicles, and no measures were taken to allow the vehicles and artillery to cross the river smoothly.

Zhang Quan was furious, and rode across the river to severely reprimand Chai Guodong, Chai Guodong hurriedly led the crowd to pull or carry across the river, and some artillery and vehicles were swept away by the river.

……

As soon as Juniper's Western Route Army left Shenyang, it was detected by Houjin's sentinels. When Jun Song led the army through the Fushun Pass, the Tun army in the western suburbs of Hetu Ala 100 miles away Nurhachi had already received the exact news of the Ming army's attack on Juniper, and immediately ordered Dai Shan, Huang Taiji to lead a total of 15,000 elite cavalry from Hetuala overnight to Salhu to set up an ambush, he himself then led 15,000 iron cavalry reinforcements, these 30,000 armored cavalry is all the main cavalry that Nurhachi can mobilize, and the remaining three Ming troops He only sent 200 cavalry to defend, playing the role of sentinel interception, not allowing the Ming army to quickly threaten Hetuala, There were still 25,000 foot soldiers left behind in Hetuala, and the entire army that Houjin could mobilize was concentrated on the Hetualasi line.

Just as Nurhachi was preparing to rush to Sarhu. A message came back from Dong'e in the south: the commander of the South Route Army was not Li Rubai, but Han Yuanshan.

This took Nurhachi by surprise. Han Yuanshan is the commander of Liaodong, not a military general, but a civil official of Jinshi, it is not uncommon for a civil official of the Ming Dynasty to lead troops, Nurhachisu looks down on the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty, so although he knows that the Southern Route Army is about to change generals, he does not think that it will increase much danger because of this, he is determined to fight Juniper this way, as long as he defeats Juniper's Ming army on the west road, his cavalry moves quickly, and he still has time to deal with the other three Ming armies approaching Hetuala.

Before the afternoon of March 11, Dai Shan led the army to pass through the Zhaka Pass, while sending a sentry to Sarhu to reconnoitre, while garrisoning the troops to wait for Huang Taiji and Nurhachi, Huang Taiji arrived at the Zhaka Pass an hour late because of the slaughter of cattle in the southern suburbs of Hetuala, and saw that Dai Shan stopped moving, so he said: "Juniper is very urgent all the way, the infantry army and the people who built the city in our Boundary Fan Mountain lack ordnance, it is difficult to resist the attack of the Ming army, we must hurry to help, the defenders on the Jie Fan Mountain see the reinforcements arrive, they will fight hard to defend, so they can attack up and down, and Jun Song will be defeated." ”

Dai Shan said: "Our army is hidden here, and when it gets dark to ambush the Ming army, we can win a big victory." ”

Huang Taiji said: "This battle our army must win, and to win a quick victory, Juniper is only 30,000 horses, and the elite of my Eight Banners Army is gathered here, what is there to be afraid of, when Yaowu raises the drum forward, the defenders of the Jiefan Mountain see that my army is mighty, morale will be boosted, and they will fight bravely, tonight in Salhu to annihilate Juniper, tomorrow wave the army north to deal with Kaiyuan Marin all the way." ”

As a result, the fifteen-thousand-year-old Jin cavalry accelerated towards Sarhu, forty miles away.

……

The forward of the Daming West Route Army guerrilla Wang Hailongchen had arrived at the mouth of the valley in the Salhu Valley at the beginning, and the outpost detected that there were hundreds of enemy horsemen at the mouth of the valley at noon, but none of them were seen at this time, and the people who transported the stones also shrank to the Jiefan Mountain.

Juniper rode his horse to the mouth of the Salhu Valley, inspected the terrain, in the distance is the towering and precipitous Tiebei Mountain, the Hunhe River and the Suzi River meet under the mountain, the west foot of the Tiebei Mountain is connected with the Jiefan Mountain, the city wall built by Jiannu on the Jiefan Mountain is vaguely recognizable, at the east end of the Jiefan Mountain, there is the Jilin Cliff of the cliff of thousands of thousands, the Hunhe River passes around the Jiefan Mountain from east to west, this valley in Henan is the Sarhu, the terrain is undulating, the forest is dense -

Juniper took a clairvoyant mirror to look at it from afar, and saw that the Jiannu who built the city in the Boundary Fan Mountain were focusing on the Jilin Cliff, which of course was to defend themselves according to the danger, and then looked carefully, these Jiannu who built the city were not people's husbands, but the foot soldiers of Jiannu.

Wang Xuan, the commander-in-chief, suggested that he immediately attack Jilin Cliff, occupy Jiefan Mountain, defeat the Jiannu infantry, and at the same time divide 8,000 troops to occupy the Salhu Heights in the west, in order to prevent the Jiannu cavalry from raiding the rear of the Ming army.

This kind of occupying the high ground, each other's horns is a very common infantry tactics, although the Juniper army also has 6,000 cavalry, but the cavalry of the Ming army and the Houjin cavalry can not be compared, only play a role in speeding up the march, the impact of cavalry is very weak, so the marching formation is to adopt infantry tactics.

Juniper is nicknamed "madman", brave in battle but short of strategy, but since this time to send troops to Shenyang, the march is quite cautious, attaches great importance to the sentry, then heard Wang Xuan said to divide the troops, then said: "Send more sentry cavalry reconnaissance, see where the slave chieftain came to block our army's foot cavalry now, if it is still far away, our army will first take the boundary of the mountain." To attack the Boundary Domain, you must first cross the Boundary Domain. If you can't attack it for a while. A strong enemy attacks our rear road, and our army cannot advance or retreat, so that we will not suffer from the enemy on our backs. ”

Wang Xuan was a little surprised, Juniper has always liked to grab credit, why is it so important this time, you must know that the heads of the soldiers on the mountain of the realm are all military merits!

Of course, Juniper had some considerations, and nearly 30,000 troops went out of Shenyang to attack Hetuala, unless Nurhachi was a dead man, otherwise he would have learned the news and sent troops to meet it. It is impossible for the Ming army to approach Hetuala, so Juniper has long been prepared for a vicious battle, and at the beginning of the year, Zhang Yuan had asked people to bring a letter to remind him to guard against Jiannu to concentrate his forces to deal with Fushun this way, Juniper is half-convinced, the four-way army is approaching Hetuala, of course Nurhachi is going to divide his troops to meet the enemy, if it is to deal with him this way, then how to deal with the other three roads?

- Juniper did not believe that Nurhachi could annihilate his army of 30,000 in less than a day, and then marched north to defeat Marin's Northern Route Army. Then intercept the combined forces of the Ming and North Korea on the eastern road, and the battle of Salhu will end with the Ming army attacking in four ways and defeating it in three ways. Zhang Yuan did not mention this possibility to Juniper, because this would only make Juniper not believe anything he said, and now, Juniper is still quite respectful to Zhang Yuan, although he does not believe that Nurhachi will concentrate his forces on Hetu Alasi Road, but he does not dare to be careless, the march is all sentinels first, ready to encounter at any time-

While the generals were talking, a horse galloped to report that there was a large group of Jiannu cavalry in Zhaka Pass, forty miles away, all of them were armored cavalry, with a total of no less than 10,000 people.

Juniper exclaimed, "Good coming!" "Ordered the army to quickly occupy the Salhu Heights, dig trenches and build fortifications, and sent people to urge the Cheying General Chai Guodong to speed up the advance, and the Cheying artillery should be arrayed on the high ground, ready to meet the enemy, after Zhang Chengyin's defeat, the Ming army was doubly vigilant against the field battle with Houjin.

The 400 post-Jin cavalry who were in charge of the guard at the mouth of the Salhu Valley discovered the arrival of the Ming army, and set up an ambush on the bank of the Jiefan River, only to wait for the Ming army to cross the Jiefan River to attack the defenders on the mountain when they suddenly rushed out to attack the attack, but the Ming army did not attack the Jiefan Mountain in the future, but occupied the high ground in the valley and began to build fortifications.

At the beginning of the afternoon, the 15,000 cavalry led by Dai Shan and Huang Taiji passed through Tailan Gang, which was only twenty miles away from the Jiefan Mountain, and the sentinel came to report that the army was stationed in the Salhu Heights and did not attack the Jiefan Mountain, which made Huang Taiji lose face, he had always expected things to be extremely accurate, but this time he miscalculated.

Dai Shan, who has always competed with Huang Taiji for favor in front of Nurhachi, sneered in his heart, and said on his face: "Juniper seems to know the movements of my army, and he doesn't dare to attack the Boundary Domain, how should I deal with it now?" ”

Huang Taiji said decisively: "Taking advantage of the unstable foothold of the Ming army, immediately launch an attack, and send a messenger to the Jiefan Mountain, and order the infantry on the mountain to attack the Ming army together, and the Ming army must be swept away before dawn tomorrow, otherwise Hetuara will be attacked." ”

Although Dai Shan and Huang Taiji fought openly and secretly, he would not deliberately disagree with Huang Taiji when the Ming Dynasty's four-way army was approaching, and he also knew that this battle was a quick victory, and said loudly: "Then fight!" "Divide the 15,000 cavalry into two wings, Huang Taiji on the left and Dai Shan on the right, and drive towards Salhu at all costs.

The fifteen thousand cavalry led by Dai Shan and Huang Taiji are the elite of the Eight Banners Army, all of them are one person and two horses, one horse when marching, and another horse when charging, so it is very impactful.

The battle of Salhu began at dusk, the sunset of Jiefan Mountain was like fire, and 15,000 Houjin infantry troops on the mountain crossed the Jiefan River after following the 400 cavalry, and guarded the mouth of the Salhu Valley, which was to cut off the retreat of the Ming army, and the four banners of the right wing led by Dai Shan began to attack the Ming army on the Salhu Heights.

The Ming army has formed three camps at this time, the outermost one is the car formation, hundreds of chariots are connected, each chariot is equipped with three short cannons of the Francophone machine, which can be fired in turns, although the battle is hasty, but condescending, the artillery is fired continuously, the charging Houjin cavalry is quite lethal, this kind of artillery fires shotguns, the lethality is not small, although the Houjin cavalry is wearing heavy armor, but it is also difficult to block the impact of the shotgun, especially the horses, the protection is worse, the first two rounds of charge commanded by Dai Shan were repulsed -

The sky is getting dark, the fierce battle is still continuing, Nurhachi led 15,000 cavalry to arrive, listening to Daishan, Huang Taiji explained the situation, Nurhachi frowned, Dajin Guoyun is fighting here, if he can't defeat Juniper's army tonight, he can't wave his army to meet the combined army of Marin and Yehebu on the north road, according to the latest report, Marin led the army from Sancha'er Fort out of the side, and last night was stationed in Barnyard Valley, which is only one hundred and twenty miles away from Salhu and more than two hundred miles away from Hetuala. And now where this army is marching is unknown. If it's fast, it's not far from Hetuala. Closer to Salhu, Dajin's situation is as dangerous as an egg, do not desperately wait for when, immediately ordered a night storm, at all costs, must break through the camp of the Ming army to annihilate the Ming army on this road, the Ming army is less than 30,000 people, and he has 30,000 cavalry and 15,000 foot soldiers. With his understanding of the combat effectiveness of the Ming army, as long as he broke through the Ming army's car formation, the Ming army would be defeated.

……

The moonlight of this night is similar to the night of the fall of Qinghe Fort, clear and bright, the difference is that there is no snow on the ground, looking out from the Salhu Heights, the mountains are full of Houjin's Eight Banner Army, at this time Juniper finally knew that Zhang Yuan was right again, the Nu chief really concentrated the main force on the West Road, to annihilate the West Route Army led by him Juniper-

The battle was extremely fierce. The Houjin cavalry continued to brave artillery fire to break into the camp, and they were all wiped out by the musketeers and archers in the trenches of the second and third lines of defense. But these rushed up Houjin cavalry is extremely fierce, before being killed, often can kill and wound several or even more than a dozen people of the Ming army, and because the Ming army camp is huge, hundreds of chariots and artillery of the car artillery battalion can not form a ring of defense, the high ground near the Hunhe side is guarded by Baoding General Wang Xuan led 800 Ding, and the supervisor Zhang Quan continues to encourage the soldiers, as long as the high ground holds on for two days, the other three route armies will come, and then the internal and external attacks will make an immortal feat......

Juniper held a spear in his hand, and commanded the enemy to kill the enemy on the east side where the Jiannu cavalry attacked the most, and the fierceness and bloodiness of the battle made him dry, and Chai Guodong, the general of the Che battalion, reported to him that more than 200 of the 1,200 Franc short guns were unusable, and more than 100 artillery men were killed and wounded because of the self-explosion of the artillery, and as the battle continued, the destruction of the short guns would be even more, and he was afraid that if he did not hold on until dawn, these artillery pieces would be completely useless.

Juniper was grumpy and scolded Chai Guodong.

Mu Jingyan on the side said to Juniper: "General, Yang Shilang must not know that the general encountered the main force of Jiannu in Salhu, and the other three route armies naturally won't know, but I am afraid that they will not come to help for a while. ”

Juniper looked at the Eight Banners Army all over the mountains, frowned, and said, "Can you rush out?" ”

Mu Jingyan said: "There are captured Jiannu clothes and armor here, and the two lowly ones put them on, and tried to break through from the side of the Hunhe River, and asked the general to give the lowly order arrows as evidence." ”

At this time, it was about the time of the night, the bright moon was already westward, the sound of guns, bows and arrows, and shouts were boiling, and the attack tide of the Houjin infantry cavalry was general, and it was really difficult to say whether the three camps laid out by the Ming army could hold out until dawn, and the camp was broken, that is, the short-handed battle, and the Houjin army's combat strength was far superior to that of the Ming army, and the number was also superior, and it was difficult to escape the fate of the annihilation of the whole army at that time.

Juniper stared at the yellow-bearded man in front of him, groaned slightly, and said, "Okay, I hope you can make a great contribution." ”

Mu Jingyan and a general flag officer named Zhou Qinghu put on the clothes and armor of the Houjin Bu pawn, Mu Jingyan held Juniper's arrow and text message, the two rolled down from the side of the Hunhe River, the attacking Jin Bu Cai thought that it was the Eight Banners soldiers killed by the Ming army rolled down, the night battle scene was chaotic, and they didn't have time to check, so that Mu Jingyan and the two of them got up and ran out of dozens of steps and jumped down the Hunhe River, this section of the Hunhe River is turbulent, Zhou Qinghu is a Liao person, does not know the nature of the water, if Mu Jingyan did not grow up in the water town of Shaoxing, and the strength is great, it is really difficult to take such a strong man to swim ashore in the dark night.

Mu Jingyan and the others climbed up to the north bank of the Hunhe River, they were exhausted, and they could hear the sound of fighting in the distance, and they both understood that the military situation was urgent, and they didn't dare to rest longer, so they only took a few breaths, and then got up and rushed to the north.

Mu Qiyan was a sedan chair man in Shanyin before joining the army, his feet were very strong, the general banner surnamed Zhou drank several sips of water when he was swimming in the water, and he was quite sluggish, Mu Jingyan walked fast again, he struggled to keep up, and walked out of more than 20 miles in one breath, his physical strength was not continued, he was tripped and fell, his hands and feet were sore, and he couldn't get up for a while.

Mu Jingyan was anxious, he didn't know the way, he picked up Zhou Qinghu on his back and strode away, Zhou Qinghu hurriedly said: "Mu Baihu, how can this make me, let me take a breath, I can walk by myself." ”

Mu Jingyan said: "You just take a breath on my back, slow down, let's not delay." ”

In this way, the two traveled through the mountains and wilderness, and rushed to Shangjian Cliff during the fourth watch, and met the scouts of the Ma Lin army, if it weren't for the scouts' sparse archery skills, Mu Jingyan was almost killed by cold arrows.

The 25,000 Ming army led by Ma Lin, the general soldier of Kaiyuan, was encamped ten miles away from Shangjian Cliff, about 50 miles away from Salhu, and there were 4,000 cavalry of Jin Taishi and Buyangu, the leader of the Jurchen Yehe tribe, and Buyangu five miles away.

After inspecting the order arrows presented by Mu Jingyan and Juniper's handwriting, and carefully inquiring about the situation of the battle in Salhu, Ma Lin, the chief soldier of Kaiyuan, frowned and hesitated, Mu Jingyan knelt down and begged: "General Ma, General Du led more than 20,000 foot cavalry to occupy the high ground, and he is still struggling to defend, if the general immediately rushes to help, the siege of Salhu can be relieved, and the army of the Han commander of Qinghe Road can also arrive later, several ways to attack, Jiannu will be defeated, please General Ma immediately send troops!" ”

Ma Lin has lived in Kaiyuan for a long time, knowing the strength of Nurhachi's cavalry, Nurhachi has concentrated his forces to deal with Juniper all the way, it is inevitable, Zou Chuxian of Qinghe Fort has not been able to support until dawn, he led the army to Salhu at this time, if Juniper has been defeated, then his northern route army will have to fight against the morale of the Jiannu cavalry, Ma Lin thinks that it is difficult to resist the enemy-

Ma Lin said: "Wait for this town to discuss with the Pan Jian Army and the leader of the Yehe tribe—"

―――――――――――――――――― (To be continued......)