kvmb Chapter 139: The Withdrawal of the Later Jin Army
Chapter 139: The Withdrawal of the Later Jin Army
Nurhaci was not in a hurry to order an attack on the city before figuring out how to resist explosive packs and bombs.
But now the Later Jin army had penetrated deep into the hinterland of Liaodong and was surrounded by enemies. In addition, Liaodong had implemented a strategy of shrinking defense and clearing the fields. It was difficult for the Later Jin army to replenish its food and fodder through looting. It was impossible to fight a long war of attrition with only the food and fodder brought by Nurhaci.
Originally, Nurhaci wanted to attack Haizhou Wei while waiting for Xiong Tingbi to dispatch reinforcements from other places so that he could engage in a field battle with the Ming army's reinforcements.
But Lu Cheng had informed Xiong Tingbi in advance, asking the troops from all units not to rush to rescue, but to fight with Nurhaci first.
Nurhaci looked at Haizhou City in the distance and thought for a long time, but could not come up with any good solution.
Back then, when the Later Jin Dynasty captured the cities of Kaiyuan and Tieling, they basically relied on spies in the city to cause trouble and the defenders who were afraid of the enemy like a tiger to attack the city.
Despite this, the Later Jin also fought a fierce battle with the Ming army in the city.
Now that he had arrived at Haizhouwei, Nurhaci wanted to use the same trick again, but the defense of Haizhouwei was too tight, and the Later Jin had no way of getting in touch with the spies in the city.
Some spies in the city were captured as soon as they showed up and were unable to play any role.
In order to lure out the spies in the city, Lu Cheng also specially designed both visible and hidden guards, and set up double protection at important locations such as water sources, granaries, and arsenals. Anyone who dared to approach would be captured immediately.
As for the city gate, anyone who approaches without reason will be shot dead, regardless of whether it is unfair or not.
Unable to use spies, Nurhaci tried every other method he could think of, except for various siege weapons.
It is impossible to cut off the water supply and food supply. Haizhouwei has sufficient supplies and can close the city gates for two or three months. As for the water source, there is a river in the south of Haizhouwei City, and the underground water source is very rich.
Digging tunnels to attack the city was even more unrealistic. The moat outside Haizhou City had also been widened and deepened, connecting to the river in the south of the city, and the water was very deep.
After thinking for a long time without coming up with any good ideas, Nurhaci could only order to continue working overtime to modify the siege equipment. He wanted to make as many equipment as possible and attack the city from multiple places to see if he could disperse Haizhouwei's troops and consume Haizhouwei's gunpowder reserves.
Last year, the Later Jin army swept across most of Liaodong and won so many victories. Many of the Later Jin generals were a little arrogant. Seeing Nurhaci in a dilemma, they all asked for battle: "Khan, there are less than 5,000 soldiers in Haizhou City, and the commander Lu Cheng is just a kid in his twenties. What is there to be afraid of? I am willing to lead my troops to attack the city with all my strength, and I will definitely take Haizhou within half a day."
"Khan, I am willing to attack the city! Haizhou is just relying on the advantage of gunpowder, how can it stop my army of tens of thousands?"
"I also want to fight..."
Seeing his generals asking for battle, Nurhaci was pleased: "How about this, it's getting late today, let the soldiers have a good rest, and when it's late at night and the soldiers on the Haizhou wall relax their vigilance, each flag will select 200 elite soldiers to attack the city from the east and north at the same time."
"Yes!"
Late at night, the Later Jin army dispatched a large number of cavalrymen to patrol the periphery to prevent the small group of cavalrymen under Lu Cheng from throwing explosive packs again.
In the past few days, the Later Jin army has been in great trouble and has not had a good night's sleep.
At three or four in the morning, when it was darkest, the elite Eight Banners soldiers selected by the Later Jin Dynasty, carrying light ladders, quietly moved towards the bottom of the city wall.
When they were about to reach the base of the city wall, there was no sound from the top of the wall. This made the Later Jin soldiers secretly feel lucky, and they quickly set up ladders and prepared for a surprise attack.
However, at this moment, a row of torches suddenly lit up on the city wall, and one clay pot bomb after another was ignited and thrown down from the city.
After another series of explosions, the soldiers attacking the city left behind a large number of corpses and quickly turned around and fled, but waves of arrows rained down from the city walls, causing heavy losses to the attacking soldiers.
Just as the explosion was heard at the East Gate, an explosion was also heard from the direction of the North Gate.
There is no doubt that the second siege by the Later Jin Dynasty did not achieve any results, but only caused some casualties.
During the daytime siege, the dead were not the most elite Eight Banners. But at night, the most elite Eight Banners were sent out to attack the city. Hundreds of them died at once, which immediately made the leaders of the Eight Banners of the Later Jin Dynasty feel distressed.
When Nurhaci heard the explosion, he knew that this sneak attack had failed again.
When the casualties were counted at dawn, it was found that five to six hundred of the 1,600 elite Eight Banners men who had participated in the siege last night were left directly under the city, and some were injured to varying degrees and were receiving treatment.
This made Nurhaci very angry. The losses he suffered in the attacks on Tieling, Kaiyuan and other cities combined were not as great as the losses this time.
But Nurhaci was helpless. The Haizhou City in front of him was like an iron hedgehog. He would be hurt if he touched it, and he had no way to attack it.
They have all seen the power of explosive packs and bombs. It would be fine if there were fewer people attacking the city, and there would be fewer casualties. But if there were more people attacking the city, the power of the explosive packs could be further exerted, and one explosion could destroy a large area.
After the leaders of the eight banners each lost some soldiers and horses, they were no longer as confident as before and did not dare to volunteer to fight.
Nurhaci was in a dilemma at this moment. If he continued to attack, not only would he suffer more casualties, but it would also be difficult to capture the city. If he turned around and retreated, he would have come all this way and then retreated in disgrace. All the momentum accumulated by the previous victories of the Later Jin would be gone.
Moreover, the entire Liaodong army has not moved yet. If Nurhaci retreats now, the entire Liaodong army will definitely move, causing him considerable trouble.
After hesitating for a long time, Nurhaci finally ordered to assemble 40,000 troops and attack the city with all his strength. He was determined to capture Haizhouwei with all his might.
Of course, Nurhaci did not forget to try to persuade Lu Cheng to surrender, and promised that as long as Lu Cheng was willing to open the city and surrender, all the past would be forgiven, and he would also promote Lu Cheng to a higher position, marry his beloved daughter to Lu Cheng, and so on.
Lu Cheng waited for the envoy to finish speaking, then drew his bow and shot him down with one arrow. He then spoke loudly to the soldiers around him: "A mere Jiannu barbarian wants me to surrender? Even if Nurhachi sent all the women in his family to be my maids, I would still think they are ugly."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone on the city wall burst into laughter.
The battle to defend the city had already begun for several days, and there were basically no casualties on the city walls. Except for a few unlucky guys who were hit by the stray arrows of the Later Jin Dynasty, the rest of the weapons could not reach the soldiers on the city walls at all.
As for catapults, the cannons on the Haizhou city walls can also play a certain role.
Immediately afterwards, Nurhaci angrily ordered the 40,000 troops to be divided into three groups and attack Haizhou City from the east, west and north at the same time.
A brutal siege began. There were continuous explosions outside the three city walls. Waves of Later Jin soldiers came to die, and the corpses under the city walls piled up into a small hill.
While attacking the city, the Later Jin also built some catapults, but their power was insufficient and they could barely scratch the walls of Haizhou Wei.
The siege lasted for most of the day, and the Later Jin army left more than 2,000 corpses outside Haizhou City. Nurhaci finally ordered to stop the attack.
At this point in the battle, Nurhaci knew that he could not continue. It was probably impossible to use up all the gunpowder in Haizhou City.
If the fighting continues, the Later Jin will suffer serious damage.
After much deliberation, Nurhaci decided to withdraw his troops. However, this expedition was exhausting, not only did it cost him many lives, but it also cost him a lot of money and food. If he returned empty-handed, I'm afraid his flag owners would be dissatisfied.
After some consideration, Nurhaci turned his attention to a peninsula in the southeast.
In the Battle of Sarhu, Joseon sent troops to help Ming. After the Battle of Sarhu, the Later Jin conquered many Joseon soldiers and persuaded some Joseon generals to surrender through these soldiers.
But even so, the Later Jin Dynasty still coveted the Lee Dynasty of Korea for a long time.
Since Liaodong is no longer an option now, we should move on to something easier to chew. We should pick the softest persimmon to squeeze. We must avoid the emergence of internal conflicts by winning the external war.
Afterwards, Nurhaci ordered the troops to withdraw.
However, Nurhaci did not know at this time what kind of losses this withdrawal would cause to the Later Jin...