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

Chapter 368 The Battle of Ningyuan
After making these arrangements, Yuan Chonghuan summoned the Ningyuan garrison for a speech, in which he passionately expressed his determination to live and die with Ningyuan.

At the pre-war mobilization, Yuan Chonghuan knelt down in front of the soldiers regardless of his status and shouted, "If you can unite and fight to the death, I will repay you by becoming an ox or a sheep, and I am willing to do so!" He pricked his blood to write a letter to express his determination, and even got a handful of straw and put it in his mouth to chew to show that what he said was true.

Yuan Chonghuan's tricks might not be very useful against educated people, but they were quite effective against these simple-minded soldiers who could not even read a single word. The morale of the Ningyuan defenders was greatly boosted, and they were deeply moved. They shouted that they would live and die with Yuan Chonghuan and defend Ningyuan.

After pacifying the soldiers, Yuan Chonghuan went back to the mansion and went into the house immediately. He put his finger in his mouth, then held the toilet and vomited violently.

Yuan Chonghuan was relieved only after he vomited out all the straw he had swallowed. These straws were not good stuff. His so-called repaying with cattle and horses was just talk. Could it be that Yuan Chonghuan really became a cattle and horse? His stomach could not digest these. If he didn't vomit them out early, he might get seriously ill.

After a night's rest, Yuan Chonghuan personally put on armor and inspected the city defense the next day. Wherever he went, he not only carefully observed the city defense situation, but also talked to the soldiers to cheer them up. This attitude moved all the soldiers in the city.

A few days later, on the 23rd day of the first lunar month, Nurhaci's army finally arrived at the city of Ningyuan. Facing the arrival of the Later Jin army, Yuan Chonghuan, who was standing on the top of the city, trembled slightly. This was not because of fear, but because he was excited.

During the years of guarding Ningyuan, Yuan Chonghuan had fought with the Later Jin. As the frontline defense, Ningyuan was the first barrier for the Later Jin Jiannu to break the blockade. In the past few years, the Later Jin invaded several times and the two sides fought each other. Overall, the Ming army relied on the solidity of Ningyuan City to gain some advantages, causing the Later Jin to return empty-handed several times.

But this time was different. This time it was the old slave of the Later Jin Dynasty, Nurhaci, who led the army personally, and they came out in full force.

Although Ningyuan was a strong city built by Sun Chengzong at great cost and expense over several years, and it was also a nail driven into the heartland of the Later Jin Dynasty by the Ming army on the Liaodong battlefield, the entire Ningyuan city actually had few troops, and the current Ningyuan garrison was only 10,000, and they were facing the main force of the Later Jin Dynasty, and more importantly, the leader of the troops was Nurhaci.

Yuan Chonghuan has always believed that he is a man of both civil and military talents, and his talents are no less than Sun Chengzong. Although he was not only valued by Sun Chengzong, but also joined Wei Zhongxian, after Sun Chengzong left office, Yuan Chonghuan failed to take over the post of Ji-Liao Commander, and the court also removed the post of Ji-Liao Commander and replaced it with Liaodong General.

It stands to reason that after Gao Di became the governor of Liaodong, the position of governor should have fallen on his head. Unfortunately, Yuan Chonghuan had just been promoted, and the struggle in the court was fierce. Wei Zhongxian told him that he had to wait for the position of governor of Liaodong. It was a bit difficult to promote Yuan Chonghuan at the moment, but he was assured that the position of governor of Liaodong would not be given to others for the time being, and this position would definitely be reserved for him.

Yuan Chonghuan was naturally happy to receive such a reassurance, but he was also somewhat dissatisfied, because he felt that he was the most suitable person to succeed Sun Chengzong. However, he could not even get a mere post as Governor of Liaodong. Wei Zhongxian was a little too petty to do so.

In this case, let the world see what Yuan Chonghuan is capable of. Now that Nurhaci is leading his army to attack, it is the right time. As long as he holds on to Ningyuan and repel Nurhaci, his merits will be enough to qualify him for the post of governor of Liaodong, and it is not impossible for him to even replace Gao Di.

Yuan Chonghuan has always been bold. He made this decision when he learned that Nurhaci led his troops across the Liaohe River, because he knew very well that once he gave up Ningyuan, it would be tantamount to giving up his own future. After retreating to Shanhaiguan, his post as governor would be completely vacant, not to mention being the governor of Liaodong or even the commander-in-chief of Ji-Liao.

Give it a try and turn your bicycle into a motorcycle.

After weighing the pros and cons, Yuan Chonghuan decided to hold on to Ningyuan. After all, Ningyuan was built and defended by him personally. Yuan Chonghuan knew Ningyuan's solidity and fierce firepower better than anyone else. What's more, Ningyuan had 10,000 elite defenders. As long as he held on to it, he would succeed.

After Nurhaci arrived in Ningyuan, he immediately sent people to persuade Yuan Chonghuan to surrender, claiming that he had an army of 200,000. If the small city of Ningyuan did not surrender, then the city would be destroyed and the people would die. As the saying goes, a man who knows the times is a hero. As long as Yuan Chonghuan is willing to surrender, Nurhaci will certainly use him. At that time, he will not only give Yuan Chonghuan a high position and generous salary, but also betroth his daughter to Yuan Chonghuan, so that he can pass on his wealth to his descendants.

Yuan Chonghuan sneered at Nurhaci's letter of persuasion to surrender, and immediately wrote back to mock Nurhaci.

He told Nurhaci that he was an official of the Ming Dynasty and was highly valued by the court. How could he surrender to a small Jiannu leader? As for the high-ranking official with a high salary, it was ridiculous. He was a good official of the Ming Dynasty, but he didn't want to be an official in the tribe? Only a fool would have such an idea. Nurhaci was even more dismissive of marrying his daughter to him. No matter how precious a Jiannu daughter was, she was still a Jiannu. Not to mention whether she was beautiful or not, he couldn't stand the smell on her body. Forget about such a blessing. As for the 200,000 troops boasted by Nurhaci, it was nonsense. He was not a three-year-old child who couldn't count. Could it be that he couldn't understand the scale of the army outside the city? How many people did you have in the Later Jin Dynasty? 200,000 troops? Unless you, an old slave, can pull out all the people of the Eight Banners and Baoyi.

Now the troops you can use are only 130,000 at most, and this 130,000 is in quotation marks. Excluding the auxiliary troops and baoyi, it would be good to have 60,000 soldiers of the Eight Banners. 200,000 troops? Do you think it was during the Battle of Red Cliffs when Cao Cao fought? At that time, Cao Cao had a total of 150,000 troops, but he dared to claim to have an army of 800,000. I heard that you, Nurhaci, have read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms well, but you have not learned the essence of Cao Aman. Why don't you claim to have 500,000?

Yuan Chonghuan's reply was full of sarcasm and ridicule, which made Nurhaci so angry that he flew into a rage.

Seeing that he could not persuade Yuan Chonghuan to surrender, Nurhaci immediately ordered an attack on the city.

On that day, the Later Jin army attacked Ningyuan fiercely with shield carts and heavy cavalry, as if they were going to take Ningyuan in one fell swoop. Seeing this, Yuan Chonghuan laughed loudly and said to his left and right, "The enemy is here!" Then he remained calm and commanded his subordinates to defend the city and fight back with artillery.

Before the battle, Yuan Chonghuan was still a little worried, but once the battle started, his confidence in defending Ningyuan increased several times. The reason was simple. Although the Eight Banners were fierce and capable of fighting, the problem was that this was not a field battle. If it was a field battle, Yuan Chonghuan would naturally not be sure to fight against Nurhaci's army.

But now it is a siege war. The Ming army has the advantage of occupying Ningyuan. With the solid city walls, no matter how powerful your Eight Banners soldiers are, they can't fly into the city with wings, right? If you want to break the city, you must first occupy the top of the city, and then open the city gate. Only in this way can the Eight Banners soldiers take Ningyuan.

But the problem is that the cavalry of the Eight Banners cannot reach the top of the city walls, and the heavy cavalry can only gallop on the ground. In the absence of firearms, relying only on bows and arrows and shield carts, a primitive siege tool, you want to take down Ningyuan, which is well prepared? It is simply a fantasy.

Ningyuan has more than a dozen of the most advanced red cannons, in addition to various types of firearms such as Portuguese cannons, muskets, and muskets. The city has sufficient food, fodder and gunpowder, so it can be defended for a year or two without any problem. He wants to see how long this old slave Nurhaci can compete with him in terms of consumption.

This was indeed the case. The Eight Banners lacked firearms and even had few shield carts for siege. It was unwise to use primitive combat methods to attack the Ningyuan Ming army, which was ready for battle. On the day of the siege, from morning to evening, Nurhaci launched wave after wave of attacks, but even so he could not even reach the top of the city wall, and suffered extremely heavy losses under the city.

Even though most of these losses were not the elite troops of the Eight Banners, but only auxiliary troops and baoyi from other tribes, such losses made Nurhaci's eyelids twitch and his face look ugly. As for the shield carts, many of them were destroyed under the fierce artillery fire of the Ming army, and they did not play any role.

On the second day, Nurhaci continued to command his troops to attack the city, but he still had no way to take Ningyuan from morning to night. The losses on the Later Jin side were extremely heavy. After two days of fighting, the Later Jin troops suffered thousands of casualties, some of whom were elite troops of the Eight Banners.

By the third day, with the success of the previous two days' defense, the Ningyuan defenders fought more skillfully, and their mentality changed from the initial panic to the current high morale. Nurhaci's losses on this day were even greater. When the sun set and the troops were withdrawn, they counted the losses. Nurhaci's losses on the third day were really not small. Although most of them were auxiliary troops and baoyi, there were also many elite Eight Banners. Such a huge loss made Nurhaci heartbroken, while Ningyuan City was intact, and the casualties of the Ming army were far less than his own.

Nurhaci could not accept such a result. He had never fought such a frustrating battle since he started his army. In the past ten years, he had swept across Liaodong with the Eight Banners, and he was invincible. But now he had hit a snag in a small Ningyuan.

Looking at the Ningyuan City not far away, Nurhaci was so angry that he gnashed his teeth and almost broke them. Just when he decided to mobilize more troops to continue the fierce attack on Ningyuan the next day, he had to take Ningyuan down, but several beiles tried their best to dissuade Nurhaci, saying that Ningyuan was a strong city with the advantage of firearms, and the Later Jin army had no artillery for siege, so it would be difficult to take Ningyuan down with the current means.

Even if they finally took Ningyuan at all costs, the Eight Banners would certainly suffer heavy losses. During the three days of fighting, everyone had seen the situation. The auxiliary troops and baoyi had suffered heavy losses. If the battle continued, the Eight Banners would be directly consumed. However, the Eight Banners were the foundation of the Later Jin and the support for its existence. Once the Eight Banners were gone, the Later Jin would be finished.

Besides, the Eight Banners' strengths are horseback archery, not siege warfare. There is no need to waste the elite Eight Banners in a meaningless siege. Since they cannot take Ningyuan City, it is better to withdraw the troops. As the saying goes, as long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood. When the Later Jin has a siege weapon like artillery, it will not be too late to deal with Ningyuan.

(End of this chapter)