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

Chapter 369: Juehua's Sorrow
Nurhaci was hesitant because of everyone's persuasion. He brought so many people to attack Ningyuan. He thought that according to previous experience, once the army arrived, the Ming army would abandon the city out of fear and flee, and Ningyuan would be taken smoothly. But he didn't expect that Yuan Chonghuan was a tough guy. Instead of running away, he directly fought with him in Ningyuan.

Now Yuan Chonghuan was stationed in Ningyuan, relying on his powerful firearms and his own back-and-forth fighting, and he also caused considerable losses to the Later Jin. The Later Jin lacked siege firearms, and the losses of forcibly attacking the city with manpower alone were too great.

Nurhaci was not a kind person. Soldiers were just numbers to him. What did the death of some people matter? There were always casualties in this war. If the death of some people could take Ningyuan and chop off Yuan Chonghuan's head, it was worth it for Nurhaci.

But the problem is who these people are. If it is ordinary auxiliary soldiers and bondservants, Nurhaci will not feel sad no matter how many of them die. In his eyes, these people are just slaves, and too many of them will be a waste of food. But it is different if the Eight Banners die. The Eight Banners are the foundation of the Later Jin Dynasty and the foundation of Nurhaci. If there are not many deaths, it will be fine, but if they are seriously injured, it will affect his rule over the Later Jin Dynasty.

Nurhaci would definitely not use the Eight Banners to fight, but the old method of plundering the Ming people in Liaodong and then driving them to attack Ningyuan while his main force hid behind did not work.

Because Yuan Chonghuan had already cleared the countryside, not to mention the area near Ningyuan, even the Ming people in places farther away were either taken to Ningyuan City by Yuan Chonghuan or fled to the direction of Shanhaiguan. It was not easy to capture Ming people within a radius of hundreds of miles.

Without the Ming army as cannon fodder to attack the city, his auxiliary troops and baoyi suffered heavy losses, and even the Eight Banners were damaged. If he continued, he would not be sure to capture Ningyuan. But at this time, Nurhaci was still very unwilling. Could it be that he had come out for nothing?
After much deliberation, Nurhaci decided to attack for another two days to see the effect, and if it didn't work, he would withdraw his troops. But the news from the next day made Nurhaci change his mind, because there was news from the east that Mao Wenlong in Pi Island had already sent troops. Mao Wenlong's timing was really good. Before he crossed the Liaohe River, Mao Wenlong received the news that the Later Jin army had sent troops. When Nurhaci's army arrived at Ningyuan City, Mao Wenlong led his troops out of Pi Island and headed directly to the rear of the Later Jin.

Nurhaci was no stranger to Mao Wenlong. If we were to ask who the two people Nurhaci hated the most were, the first one would naturally be Sun Chengzong, the former governor of Ji and Liao. If it weren't for Sun Chengzong, how could Nurhaci have been blocked so tightly in the past few years? How could his life become more and more difficult?
Mao Wenlong was a troublemaker. Since he arrived at Pidao, Mao Wenlong became the nightmare of the Later Jin. His troops were elusive behind the Later Jin. Every few days, they would run from Pidao to Liaodong to stab the Later Jin in the ass, cut off some meat, and drain some blood. Although the loss was not big each time, it was extremely insulting, which made Nurhaci really crazy.

That's not all. As long as Nurhaci gathered his troops and turned around to attack Mao Wenlong, Mao Wenlong would immediately withdraw his troops to Pi Island. Relying on the advantage of ships, the Later Jin without a navy had no way to deal with Mao Wenlong, and could only watch Mao Wenlong enjoy himself in Pi Island.

In addition, once the Later Jin Dynasty launched any military action against the main force of the Ming Dynasty, Mao Wenlong in Pi Island would also be ready to move and send troops to directly attack the heartland of the Later Jin Dynasty, causing great trouble to the Later Jin Dynasty.

When Nurhaci sent troops this time, he was on guard against Mao Wenlong and made special arrangements in advance. However, he did not expect that Mao Wenlong would get the news so quickly. If Ningyuan had been taken now, the problem would not be too big. Nurhaci could completely free up his hands to deal with Mao Wenlong's sneak attack. But the problem was that Ningyuan was still in the hands of Yuan Chonghuan. The Later Jin had attacked for several days but had no way to take Ningyuan. Nurhaci had to consider the threat posed by Mao Wenlong.

Faced with such changes, it seemed meaningless to continue the stalemate in Ningyuan. Coupled with the persuasion of several beiles, the unwilling Nurhaci had to give up attacking Ningyuan and prepare to withdraw his troops.

However, Nurhaci was still unwilling to give up at this time. The Later Jin army spent so much but gained nothing under the Ningyuan city, which really damaged his face. In order to regain his face, Nurhaci decided to withdraw his troops and set his sights on Juehua Island, located southeast of Ningyuan City. He continued to pretend to attack Ningyuan, but his elite Eight Banners separated a part and headed directly towards Juehua Island.

Juehua Island is located in the southeast of Ningyuan City, 18 miles from the shore and 30 miles from Ningyuan. It is located in the middle of the east and west seas and controls the land and water ports of western Liaoning, making it a strategic location.

When Sun Chengzong sent people to build Ningyuan City, he noticed the strategic location of Juehua Island. He specially dispatched navy to garrison on Juehua Island and used Juehua Island as a frontline base to stockpile a large amount of food, gunpowder and other supplies as an important logistics base for the Ningyuan defense line.

Whether from the geographical location of Juehua Island or the setting of the Liaodong defense line, Juehua Island is the best choice. In addition, Juehua Island is isolated overseas, and the Later Jin has no navy and cannot attack the island at all. Therefore, this place is very safe.

But no one expected that Nurhaci would actually send troops in winter this time, and with the change of climate in recent years, the weather has become colder and colder. Especially this year is even colder. Although the New Year has passed, the weather in Liaodong is still in the season of freezing. Under such severe cold, the sea surface from Juehua Island to the land actually froze, causing the natural barrier of Juehua Island to disappear when the sea surface was frozen.

When Nurhaci's troops arrived near Juehua Island from Ningyuan, they were surprised to find that the sea was covered with a thick layer of ice. They did not need any boats at all and could rush directly to Juehua Island from the frozen sea.

How could Nurhaci miss such a great opportunity? He immediately ordered the cavalry to attack Juehua Island directly through the ice cap. At this time, the defenders of Juehua Island did not think that the Later Jin would suddenly turn around and attack them, and ignored the serious consequences of the weather. It should be known that the sea surface is frozen once in a hundred years, but it is not unsolvable.

If the defender of Juehua Island had made preparations earlier and used the gunpowder stored on Juehua Island to blast the ice when the sea surface showed signs of freezing, or sent soldiers to chisel the ice to eliminate this hidden danger, then with the geographical advantage of Juehua Island, even if the Later Jin army attacked, they would not be able to cross the sea to attack the island. But the defender of Juehua Island ignored this point, or perhaps he did not expect that the Later Jin would attack Juehua Island at this time.

When the commander of Juehua Island found that the Later Jin army was approaching Juehua Island, he suddenly realized what was happening and hurriedly sent soldiers to dig ice to make a moat and line up with chariots and shields to defend it.

Unfortunately, it was too late. Due to the long freezing period, the ice on the sea surface was already very thick. It was not easy to cut ice to make a moat in a short time. Moreover, the defenders of Juehua Island were naval forces. There were not many people who could be mobilized in a hurry, and they did not have the right equipment. What was even worse was that it suddenly snowed heavily, and the temperature dropped a lot, which made the defense even more difficult.

At noon, the Later Jin cavalry was divided into twelve teams, led by Wu Nege, a general under Nurhaci, and directly attacked Juehua Island through the ice. The defenders of Juehua Island were unable to intercept them, and the Later Jin cavalry quickly attacked the grain storage city located at the dragon head position on the island.

Not long after the battle started, the defending general Jin Guan was killed. Jin Guan's son Jin Shiqi led 800 Ming troops on Juehua Island in a desperate resistance and eventually died heroically.

After capturing the grain storage city of Longtou, the Later Jin cavalry continued to attack the Xishan camp on Juehua Island. Xishan defender Yao Yuxian and other troops fought desperately, but eventually all died in battle.

In just one day, the entire Juehua Island fell. The Ming troops and merchants on the island were killed by the Later Jin army. In addition to some food and grass that were moved away by the Later Jin army, the remaining stockpiled grain and more than 2000 ships that could not be moved were all burned and destroyed by the Later Jin army. Juehua Island, which was once an important logistics base in Liaodong, was destroyed, and the losses were extremely heavy.

In the Battle of Juehua Island, the Later Jin won a great victory, and Nurhaci also vented his anger for not being able to defeat Yuan Chonghuan at the gates of Ningyuan City.

In addition, the large amount of supplies looted from Juehua Island also made up for the shortage of supplies for the Later Jin Dynasty, which greatly boosted the morale of the Later Jin Dynasty and made everyone smile.

On the other hand, the fall of Juehua Island caused huge losses to the Ming army. There were nearly 14,000 soldiers and civilians on Juehua Island. After the Later Jin cavalry broke through Juehua Island, all these soldiers and civilians were massacred, and only a few survived. The losses on the Later Jin side were minimal, with only more than 200 people according to post-war statistics.

After winning the battle of Juehua Island, Nurhaci was in high spirits, without any trace of the anger he had in the previous few days. Just as he was gearing up to attack Ningyuan again to see if he could take down Yuan Chonghuan in one fell swoop, news came from the east again, and it was still Mao Wenlong, the troublemaker.

Mao Wenlong was bold and careful. Not only did he lead his troops to break into the rear of the Later Jin, but in order to force Nurhaci to return, Mao Wenlong also risked his life to directly attack Yongning of the Later Jin.

Yongning was an important place for the Later Jin Dynasty. Once Yongning was lost, it would be no trivial matter. Nurhaci was shocked when he heard the news and had to give up the idea of ​​continuing to attack Ningyuan. He ordered the troops to turn around and return to prevent Mao Wenlong from breaking through Yongning and threatening the rear.

In this way, the Battle of Ningyuan lasted only a few days from the beginning to the end. Although Ningyuan was finally defended, Yuan Chonghuan led the defenders to block the Later Jin outside Ningyuan City with strong cities and powerful artillery, and also gained a lot. However, the Battle of Juehua Island caused by the Battle of Ningyuan was a huge loss. From this point of view, the Ming army did not gain much advantage. On the contrary, after breaking through Juehua Island, the Later Jin massacred the soldiers and civilians of Juehua Island, completely destroyed the base of Juehua Island, and obtained a large amount of supplies urgently needed by the Later Jin from Juehua Island.

From the overall information, the Ming army suffered much greater losses than the Later Jin army in this sudden battle. However, from the perspective of Ningyuan being able to hold on, it was also encouraging news for the Ming army.

You must know that Nurhaci has been invincible since he started his rebellion. The Ming army suffered heavy losses every time, and losing cities and territories was common. Although the losses on Juehua Island were huge this time, Ningyuan City was saved. Moreover, because of the firm defense of Ningyuan, Nurhaci failed to take Ningyuan and returned empty-handed. This alone was enough to make the Ming court extremely happy.

(End of this chapter)