Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1115 The earth dragon turns over?

After seeing off Bumbutai and the young emperor Fulin, Dorgon devoted himself wholeheartedly to the upcoming war.

In the next few days, Dorgon did not defend Shengjing to the death. Instead, he sent Duoduo, Yuetuo, Ye Chen, Shi Tingzhu, Bahana, Sony and others to lead troops to take the initiative to attack, using cavalry to harass and intercept the Ming army approaching Shengjing, while collecting supplies and making preparations for the defense of Shengjing.

In addition, Dorgon also ordered people to strictly monitor Jirgalang and other Eight Banner nobles. Prince Zheng Jirgalang was the first regent prince selected by Zhezhe, but later the power of the court was monopolized by Dorgon. After the death of Empress Dowager Zhezhe, Bumbutai came to power and promoted Dorgon from regent prince to regent. In this way, Dorgon held power and Jirgalang became a decoration.

Although Jirgalang always appeared to be very low-key and gave in step by step to Dorgon's aggressiveness, it would be a big mistake to think that this guy was a spineless person. Dorgon knew him too well. Once he relaxed his vigilance against Jirgalang, God knows what this guy would do.

In the face of a powerful enemy, Dorgon had to not only face external enemies, but also guard against internal problems, and Jirgalang, as the regent prince, was the primary person to guard against. So he forcibly mobilized the army, directly removed the military power of Jirgalang and other nobles, and directly placed these people under house arrest. Without these people holding him back, Dorgon could focus all his energy on how to deal with the attack of the Ming army.

Wang Jinwu did not underestimate the enemy and advance rashly. He marched steadily and joined forces with Sun Chuanting, Li Xin, the Solon tribe and Hauge's Zhenglan Banner to advance step by step towards Shengjing. Facing the harassment from multiple cavalry sent by Dorgon, Wang Jinwu was neither arrogant nor impatient, and did not give the other side any chance to take advantage of. Finally, ten days later, the three armies arrived at the city of Shengjing at the same time. With the pressure from the Ming army, most of the troops sent by Dorgon withdrew to Shengjing for garrison, leaving only a few thousand people on the periphery to assist in the battle.

At this time, Wang Jinwu had already begun to encircle Shengjing with his troops. However, Wang Jinwu did not surround Shengjing completely. Instead, he adopted the tactic of surrounding three sides and leaving one side open, and controlled the west, south, and east of Shengjing respectively, leaving only a gap in the north.

Dorgon in the city was well aware of this tactic. How could they not understand Wang Jinwu's intentions as they had fought many battles? He did not care about Wang Jinwu's actions at all, and stepped up efforts to strengthen the defense of Shengjing City and prepare his troops for battle.

The Battle of Shengjing began on the third day after Wang Jinwu arrived in Shengjing. As the order to attack was issued, the Ming army in three directions of Shengjing launched attacks. Of course, this attack had a main and secondary attack. The main attack was mainly carried out by Wang Jinwu from the front, which is west of Shengjing, while the south and east directions were secondary attacks. After all, compared with Wang Jinwu's main force, Sun Chuanting's troops in the south were not many, and most of the troops in the east were cavalry who were not good at sieges. They had the largest number of infantry. Wang Jinwu's main force, including firearms, naturally undertook the main attack task.

Last time, Zu Dashou won the first place and made great contributions in the Panshan battle. Although he failed to completely eliminate Sony and Aobai's troops, he also caused a lot of casualties to the enemy. At the same time, Wu Sangui's Guanning Iron Cavalry also intercepted the enemy's retreat at the most critical moment, and also made great contributions after a battle. So this time, the main attack, several other generals clamored for Wang Jinwu to let them serve as the main force of the attack. Considering the actual situation, Wang Jinwu finally gave this task to Zuo Liangyu and Cao Wenzhao, and let them join forces to attack in turns, suppress the Shengjing defenders and finally break the city.

The battle was extremely fierce at the beginning. Although the Ming army, which had powerful firearms, was the attacker, they fought in an orderly manner, causing great suffering to the Dorgon troops defending the city. Although Shengjing also had cannons for defense, the number of these cannons was insufficient, and the gunners were all former Ming soldiers who had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty in Pidao. Seeing the Ming army's offensive outside the city, the gunners on the top of the city were terrified and their hands and feet became weak and they couldn't even fire the cannons accurately, so naturally they didn't cause that much trouble to the Ming army.

On the other hand, the Ming army launched wave after wave of offensives. The army was filled with resentment, and everyone understood what it meant to capture Shengjing (Shenyang).

Over the years, the Ming Dynasty and the Jiannu fought so many wars, and the Ming Dynasty was always beaten badly by the enemy without any ability to fight back. During the Ji Yi Rebellion, the Ming Dynasty was even attacked by Huang Taiji and his troops reached the capital, and even the capital was almost broken by the enemy. How could all the people of the Ming Dynasty not know about such a great humiliation?

Now things have finally changed. After several years of preparation, the Ming Dynasty launched its first active attack on Liaodong. This time, it took the initiative from the very beginning. Not only did it capture the entire Liaoxi Corridor, it also divided its troops into three groups to capture the hinterland of Liaodong. It also joined forces with the Agudamu tribe of Mongolia to deal with the Khorchin tribe, and directly reached the opponent's capital in one fell swoop.

Such a battle situation and record was unprecedented. All the generals understood that whoever could break through Shengjing and enter the city would have made a great achievement. Once Shengjing was taken, the so-called Qing Dynasty would be completely finished. The Jiannu threat that had troubled the Ming Dynasty for 30 years would also be completely resolved. Liaodong would be recovered, and the Ming Dynasty would no longer have foreign enemies. If they didn't fight hard now, when would they?

Due to the high morale of the Ming army and their fierce attacks, Dorgon had a very difficult time defending the city. Even though he had deployed troops outside the city in advance and called on the cavalry outside the city to harass the enemy's rear army when the Ming army was attacking the city, intending to create trouble for the Ming army's attack or even take advantage of the opportunity to launch a sneak attack on the Ming army, he was met with the well-prepared Ming army and was unable to find any loopholes.

On the contrary, the Ming army outside the city fought more and more fiercely and more and more skillfully, which surprised Dorgon. When did the Ming army become so powerful? This was really unexpected, but the situation was so bad that he could not think too much. He could only grit his teeth and hold on. After a few days, the Eight Banners defending the city suffered heavy casualties, and Dorgon was even more worried.

At the beginning of the war, Dorgon had thought about holding out for at least three months. In his opinion, with Shengjing's food reserves and the troops at hand, it would be absolutely no problem to hold out for three months. But now he no longer thinks so. In less than ten days, Shengjing City is in danger, and the casualties of the Eight Banners remain high. Dorgon himself is not sure how long he can hold out.

But even so, Dorgon didn't want to give up his defense until the last moment. In his opinion, the longer Shengjing defended, the better it would be for him. Not only could Shengjing's defense effectively kill the Ming army, but it could also buy time for Bumbutai and the emperor to evacuate. Now it's not the last moment yet, and it's not too late to run when it's really impossible. In this way, Dorgon gritted his teeth and insisted, personally supervising the battle. This offensive and defensive battle lasted for nearly a month. The casualties of the Ming army were not small, but Dorgon's casualties were even greater. In addition, after such a long period of defending the city, the morale of the Eight Banners began to decline.

On this day, there was another fierce battle. The Ming army's daily siege was not static. They always focused on the west of the city as the main attack direction. Wang Jinwu constantly mobilized the troops and adopted the tactic of breaking through separately. This tactic was quite effective. Just yesterday, the Ming army in the south of the city suddenly increased its attack intensity, catching the garrisoned Eight Banners off guard. If Dorgon had not seen that the situation was not right and personally led troops to reinforce and drove back the Ming army that had already climbed onto the city wall, Shengjing might have been broken.

The battle today was equally intense. Dorgon had been patrolling everywhere with his troops like a firefighter these days, and he would lead his men wherever there was a problem. This was the first time he had fought such a frustrating battle, but he had to fight. After so many days, he was already exhausted.

After it got dark, Dorgon arranged for guards at various places on the city walls to prevent the Ming army from attacking at night. Exhausted, he returned to his house, had a quick meal, and lay down in his clothes. These days, he had not taken off his armor for a long time, just in case of an emergency, he could immediately go into battle.

Only a few breaths after lying down, Dorgon fell into a deep sleep. He was so tired that he snored as soon as his head touched the pillow. He did not even have a dream after falling asleep, but his right hand, which was placed beside the bed, was still holding the sword that had accompanied him for many years.

After an unknown amount of time, there was a sudden explosion like thunder, and the entire ground began to shake. Dorgon suddenly opened his eyes and rolled out of bed. But as soon as his feet touched the ground, he felt the ground swaying from side to side, causing Dorgon to stumble and almost fall.

Holding the bed frame with one hand, Dorgon swayed and tried to stand firmly, then hurriedly shouted: "Someone come! Someone come!"

"Master..." Just as he finished speaking, his personal guards stumbled in from outside and knocked the door open in a panic.

At this time, the shaking of the ground had gradually stopped. Dorgon asked anxiously: "What happened? Is it the earth dragon turning over?"

"I didn't know. I was just standing guard outside when suddenly there was thunder and an earthquake..."

"You useless idiot, why don't you go and find out what's going on! Oh, by the way, immediately pass on my military order and have people check all parts of the city wall to see if there are any problems."

"Yeah!" The guard responded and turned around and ran out.

Dorgon straightened his armor and walked out of the room quickly. Once outside, he immediately mobilized his personal guards to leave the mansion and head towards the nearest south gate. At this time, there was a panic in Shengjing City. Many people encountered this scene in their sleep and everyone was scared. Many people ran out of their homes to ask what had happened, but few could explain it clearly.

At this time, Dorgon led his troops to come, and everyone stepped aside, fearing that they would offend Dorgon and get into trouble. But just as Dorgon was about to arrive at the south city, a fast horse came from the west, and an Eight Banners soldier on the horse ran and shouted loudly: "Regent! Where is the Regent?"

“I’m here!” Dorgon stopped and answered loudly. As soon as he finished speaking, the other horse came up to him. The cavalryman jumped off his horse and crawled forward anxiously, saying, “Oh no, Regent. West City… West City has been breached!”

"What!" Dorgon couldn't believe his ears. The West City was breached? How could this be possible? He had just inspected that place in the evening and everything was fine. How come the West City was breached inexplicably after he had taken a nap for more than an hour? Were the servants guarding the city stupid? Could it be that he opened the city gate and let the Ming army in?

(End of this chapter)