On the 23rd, the Eighth Banner Army passed through the pass between Shoushan and Cave Mountain, five miles east of Ningyuan City, and arrived at the outskirts of Ningyuan City.

The army stopped advancing, and Nurhachi convened a military council. Ao Bai stood on the side to guard, so he heard clearly.

The Ming army's plan to clear the wilderness this time was not implemented thoroughly for some reason. Not only did a large amount of grain and grass not be transported, but the Eight Banners Army also captured many Han people along the way. Nurhachi prepared to salute first and then the soldiers, and said: "Release the captive Han people into Ningyuan City today, and send a messenger to inform the guards that we must break the city this time, and if we are willing to surrender, we will immediately be crowned an official and a knight." ”

Mang Gurtai said: "Father Khan, it seems that the Ming army has not discovered our movements yet, why don't you attack immediately and break through in one fell swoop?" There are only 20,000 of them, and we can easily tear down the city. ”

Huang Taiji shook his head lightly and said with a smile: "The spies have come to report that all the houses outside Ningyuan City have been burned down, and we can only camp in the wilderness, the weather is cold, and it is difficult to stay for a long time. In doing so, they must be preparing for a protracted war. So far, there has been no movement, most likely deliberately trying to lure us to the city. Rashly attacking the city will only cause heavy casualties, and if they don't surrender, it's not too late to attack again. ”

Mang Gultai snorted and sat down without speaking.

Yanguli stood up and said, "King Khan, if Ning Yuan does not surrender, I suggest that you go to the city at night and use an axe to dig the city wall, wait for the city wall to collapse, and seize the gap to attack." ”

Nurhachi immediately clapped his hands and said, "Good plan! Just as you say. ”

Damn, the brave Jurchen sons don't set up ladders to climb the wall, but they have to dig people into the corners of the walls with an axe in the middle of the night, it's too obscene! However, Ao Bai also had to admit that Yanguli proposed a good plan.

The weather was cold, and there was light snow, and it was too difficult to build a siege ladder to rush up the city walls, and it was not advisable at all. Cold weapon warfare is very brutal, and sometimes the more obscene the play, the more effective it is. Nurhachi's cavalry is the majority, the siege equipment is backward, and the city wall is their nemesis, so their consistent strategy is to send undercover agents into the city first to engage in infernal affairs, and the inside should be combined with the outside; Or lead the Ming army out to confront it head-on. If the other party does not come out, it must be attacked, and the best way is to give full play to the spirit of Yugong to move mountains and dig into the corners.

The plan must be determined, Nurhachi ordered to leave the city five miles, cross the mountain and sea road, set up camp and set up formation, and cut off Ningyuan to reinforce the army. and set up a commander's camp in the northwest of the city.

As soon as the camp was set up, Nurhachi heard a burst of artillery fire before he could enter the camp. He ordered the ranks to stop and shouted, "Someone! Find out what's going on up ahead. ”

After a short time, a spy reported: "The Ming army bombarded our Shuai camp with artillery, and our army suffered dozens of casualties, and has now retreated to the west." ”

When Nurhachi heard this, he said angrily: "Damn, you actually set up the camp so close and want Ben Khan to be a target?" Which idiot is this responsible? Let him come and confess quickly! ”

The spy said loudly: "Great Khan, it's not that our army is camped too close, but that the Ming army's artillery has too long a range and is very powerful. ”

Before the siege began, the troops had already been lost, Nurhachi's face turned pale, and he said: "Explore the range of the artillery of the Qingming army and re-station!" ”

Aobai's heart was shocked. Now that the camp is going to be moved, it's impossible to hurt Nurhachi again, right? Thankfully, he is no longer at risk of dying young.

After setting up camp, Nurhachi sent men to release the prisoners of war, awaited Yuan Chonghuan's reply, and sent people to ambush outside the city. This is actually redundant, and the Ming army has long decided to defend the city.

The night passed peacefully. The next day, the envoy of Ningyuan City brought a message from Yuan Chonghuan - "Refuse to surrender, if you have the ability, come and attack!" ”

Nurha snorted coldly and ordered the messenger to be sent back, abiding by the rule that the two armies should fight and not kill the envoy. The army was stationed outside the city, and after dark, Nurhachi sent several teams of men and horses, felt the darkness to the bottom of the city, and covered it with covered carts to prevent the Ming army from throwing stones, shooting arrows, and began to chisel the city with axes.

Dorgon and Aobai were left in the tent.

After sitting for an hour, Dolgon finally couldn't sit still, and said depressedly: "Aobai, what do you say is this? Left us here again, did we come to play? Even if you don't participate in the siege, look at the head office, right? We didn't even know where to attack or how to play. ”

It's so dark, what can you see? This kid is too positive. Ao Bai smiled bitterly: "We can't help when we go out, do you think the Great Khan will send us to dig the city wall?" ”

Dorgon sighed. Nurhachi had already said that as long as the previous troops had carved the walls of the city, they could enter the city as follow-up troops and participate in the battle. To put it bluntly, the people in front of them were almost killed, so let the two of them go in to pick up the leaks, and they were addicted to robbers.

According to this development, Aobai can be sure that Nurhachi will not be injured by the shells. The estimation recorded in the previous life is also apocryphal, no matter how stupid the emperor is, it is impossible to run into the range of the enemy's heavy weapons to take risks, if he really does this, it is not called bravery, but stupidity.

After the battle of Ningyuan digging the corner began, the Ming army gradually found a way to deal with it, they were very innovative, wrapped in an oilcloth with iron ropes on the city wall, lit it and threw it down, and also threw the straw and quilt wrapped in gunpowder down, this self-made incendiary bomb was very lethal, the quilt was violently expanded and burned under the action of gunpowder, many chariots were burned, and the officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners were burned alive. It was fought until the second half of the night, and the Eight Banners Army Mingjin withdrew. Aobai and Dolgon had nothing to do and rested early.

The next day, Dolgon approached Daishan and asked, "Big brother, how was the battle last night?" ”

Dai Shan smiled: "We have dug out a lot of holes, if it goes well, we can break the city tonight, you are ready, don't be nervous after entering the city, kill the Han people when you see them, don't be soft!" ”

Don't strangle it, do you? It's only been a day's work, and Ning Yuan is about to break? I'm definitely on Mars! Otherwise, history would not have changed so much...... If it goes on like this, Yuan Chonghuan will not die unjustly, and Ning Yuancheng will be knocked out directly as soon as it is broken! Ao Bai shouted that he was surprised, if he really broke the city, as a member of the Eight Banners Army, he could only rush in.

In the evening, the two sides began to attack and defend again. The Jin State Digging Corner Army marched bravely and rushed to the city, and the Ming artillery also roared non-stop. Molotov cocktails were thrown with joy.

Dolgon and Ao Bai waited in the crowd, ready to go.

Every once in a while, news comes in. The Ming army already has defensive experience, and the Eight Banners Army is not as smooth as yesterday in digging the city wall, but the soldiers have followed one after another, and after leaving hundreds of corpses, they still have carved out several large openings, as long as they work harder, it is possible to hollow out the city roots, so that the city wall above collapses, forming a gap, so that the large army can rush into the city.

After listening to the battle situation, Ao Baixin said that Yuan Chonghuan was not far from death, and he was afraid that Jin Yong would not be able to write "Blue Blood Sword" after a few hundred years...... He has gained insight in this battle, and it turns out that attacking the city and climbing the wall is the next strategy, and digging the corners of the wall is the royal way.

The strange thing is that in the second half of the night, the Eight Banners Army withdrew its troops again. Dolgon was very disappointed, and Ao Bai also felt puzzled, and later asked to find out that the weather was too cold, and the entire city wall of Ningyuan was frozen. It took a lot of effort to dig a hole and dig a hole below, but it couldn't collapse at the top...... If you dig like this, you'll only get more people killed.

Due to the powerful artillery of the Ming army, the Eight Banners Army failed to recover all the bodies of the dead, and Nurhachi was very angry about this. He lost this battle!

In the morning, the spies sent to report that the soldiers and civilians of Huajue Island, 30 miles away, had not withdrawn, and the sea had frozen. After thinking about it, Nurhachi ordered to abandon the attack on Ningyuan and move to Huajue Island.

The army began to retreat one after another, and the envoys sent by Yuan Chonghuan arrived at the camp, bringing gifts and a "letter of apology". There was a sentence on the letter: "The veteran has been rampant in the world for a long time, and today he is defeated by the boy, how can he count it!" ”

Nurhachi's beard stood up when he saw it, and said to Dai Shan beside him: "Dai Shan, you send someone to prepare gifts and famous horses, and also bring a letter to this Yuan Chonghuan." Just said: 'Ning Yuan can hold on to it today, all because of the cold weather.' The sea will freeze when it's cold, so let's go to attack Huajue Island! The soldiers and civilians on the island are dead, how many of them! 'You take two red flags to set up an ambush halfway, if Ning Yuan sends troops out of the city to rescue, you know what to do!' ”

Yuan Chonghuan won in Ningyuan by luck for a while, but he angered Nurhachi! Huajue Island is not something he can manage. Out to the rescue? There are more than 10,000 people in Ningyuan, if they are really so brave, do they still need to save Huajue Island? As soon as the Eight Banners Army came, wouldn't it be over if they rushed out to kill the other party's ass and urine? Nurhachi sent someone to send this letter, which was the simplest way to provoke the generals. It's best to lure them out, but if you can't, you can take the people on Huajue Island to vent your anger!

In the first battle of Ning Yuan, Ao Bai found that Yuan Chonghuan was far from being as strong as written, there was no conspiracy, no big victory, and some were just luck, if it wasn't for the sky freezing the city wall, and the Eight Banners Army had no intention of besieging the city, Ning Yuan would not have escaped the doom of falling.

Leaving Ningyuan, Nurhachi seemed to have become older, and the deep wrinkles seemed to be engraved on the door of his head. If every city was defended like Ning Yuan, even if it could be defeated, the Eight Banners Army would not be able to afford it. Ningyuan is so difficult to fight, how will he cross the Shanhaiguan in the future? Entering the Central Plains, what should we do if every city is guarded like this? Although it was only a small defeat, he felt powerless.

The army soon reached the seashore, and Nurhachi ordered: "Two white flags, two yellow flags, and the blue flag will lead the order." Set off on the fifth watch and go to the island on foot. ”

Huajue Island is very close to the coast, and the distance in a straight line is only eight miles. Departing on the fifth watch, it was early in the morning when I went to the island, and the sky was bright. When the Eight Banners Army has a superior number of people, a night attack may not be a good thing, and it may even be chaotic. The best time to go to the island in the early morning is when the night watchman is mentally tired and can see the enemy clearly after arriving on the island.

Nurhachi looked at Dolgon and Aobai beside him, and suddenly said, "Dolgon, Aobai, do you feel that there is no place to use power?" ”

Dorgon's spirits perked up and he asked, "Father Khan, can we go to war?" ”

Nurhachi nodded and said, "Go with you, Aobai, you have to stay with Dolgon, and don't let him get hurt." ”

"Yes!" Ao Bai replied loudly. It's finally time to officially participate in the battle!