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

Chapter 501 Mang Gurtai
When Nurhaci was alive, he conferred titles on four great beiles, among whom was Manggurtai.

Compared with Amin, who ranked second, the other three were Nurhaci's sons, the eldest Daishan, the fifth Manggurtai and the eighth Huang Taiji.

Daishan was the oldest of the three. He had followed Nurhaci in battles since he was a teenager and had made numerous contributions. He enjoyed a high reputation among the Jiannu. Manggurtai and Huang Taiji were not bad either. Manggurtai was especially brave and good at fighting. He had conquered six cities in a row during the conquest of the Ula tribe and was highly valued by Nurhaci.

After Nurhaci's death, three of the four great beiles were eligible to compete for the position of Khan. At that time, Manggurtai was full of confidence. Judging from his military achievements, he was no less than the eldest brother Daishan. In terms of the ranking of brothers, he was the fifth brother of Huang Taiji. Moreover, Manggurtai, who was in charge of the Zhenglan Banner, had strong forces under his command. In his opinion, the Khan position belonged to him.

Unexpectedly, Huang Taiji won over Daishan and other brothers, and suddenly launched an attack when discussing the ownership of the Khan throne, catching him off guard and thus shattering Manggurtai's dream.

After losing the Khanate, Manggurtai was unwilling to accept it. In his opinion, Huang Taiji's ascension to the throne was just a fluke. If it weren't for Daishan, the elder brother, who stabbed him in the back, the Khanate should have been his. But now, it actually fell into the hands of Huang Taiji. How could Huang Taiji, who was not as good as himself in terms of military exploits and martial arts, and whose body was fat, sit on this position?

Therefore, after Huang Taiji inherited the throne, Manggurtai was always dissatisfied, but it was not long before he was strongly suppressed by Huang Taiji.

Huang Taiji was not a reckless man like Manggurtai. He was far-sighted and decisive. The first thing he did after he ascended the throne was to force the queen dowager to death and have her buried alive with him. Everyone knew the reason for doing this, which was to prevent the three brothers Dorgon from threatening his Khan position.

After all, the three brothers of Dorgon controlled two banners and were quite powerful in the Eight Banners. In addition, they were all born to the Queen Consort. If the Queen Consort had not died, even Huang Taiji would have been inferior to her in status. At that time, the Queen Consort was inside and the three brothers of Dorgon were outside. If they started a rebellion at the same time, even if Huang Taiji was the Khan, he would not be able to stop them. At that time, there would inevitably be another fight for the Khanship within the Eight Banners, which would not only threaten Huang Taiji's status, but also cause civil strife in the Eight Banners.

This was also the main reason why Huang Taiji quickly eliminated the Queen Consort as soon as he was sure of his succession to the Khanship. After the Queen Consort's death, Huang Taiji's position was completely consolidated. Then Huang Taiji used the power of the Khan to adjust the internal affairs of the Eight Banners, reset the Qing system, swapped the Niulu of each banner, and weakened the power of each banner in the hands of several brothers through a series of means, thus controlling the power.

Faced with such a situation, Manggurtai was powerless even if he was unwilling. The throne was already secured, and he had witnessed Huang Taiji's ruthless methods with his own eyes, so Manggurtai had no choice but to keep quiet. Even if he was unwilling in his heart, he had no choice but to pretend to obey Huang Taiji on the surface.

During this invasion of the Ming Dynasty, Huang Taiji left Daishan in Liaodong, and brought the three brothers Dorgon and Manggurtai out with him.

Huang Taiji had considered this arrangement carefully. Liaodong was his foundation. Once he led the army to war, these suspicious brothers must not be left there. They must be kept by his side. Only in this way could he subdue them.

As for Liaodong, Daishan was probably Huang Taiji's supporter, and he was the oldest and most stable, so it was best for him to guard the old nest. In this way, Manggurtai followed Huang Taiji to invade the Ming Dynasty. Since entering the Ming Dynasty, he fought with the Ming army many times and made contributions to Huang Taiji's breaking through Longjing Pass and taking Zunhua. Even Zhao Lujiao, the general of the Ming army, died at Manggurtai's hands.

In the attack on Xuan's army camp led by Mangui today, Manggurtai was one of the main attacking generals. After breaking through the outer fence, Manggurtai led the army in a fierce attack, which eventually killed Mangui on the spot.

After Man Gui's death, the Ming army lost its fighting spirit, and Manggurtai's Zhenglan Banner directly rushed into the camp and began to annihilate the Ming army. Everything was going well, but the Ming army was powerless to resist, and was in danger of being annihilated under the siege of the Eight Banners on three sides. It would not take long for the whole army to be annihilated.

But at this moment, he suddenly heard that there was still a Ming army resisting in the camp, and it had killed hundreds of elite Eight Banners soldiers. Manggurtai was surprised and became interested. He asked the rest of the troops to continue to encircle and annihilate the various Ming armies, and he personally led the elite soldiers of the Zhenglan Banner to rush here. When he arrived, he saw that it was true. In the western corner of the camp, a Ming army set up a military formation with its backs against the moat, and three rows of chevaux de frise were placed on the outside. Behind the chevaux de frise was a chariot formation composed of wagons, and behind them were nearly a thousand Ming troops. These Ming troops looked a little different from ordinary Ming troops. They were neatly arranged and well-equipped. They stood there motionless, revealing a hint of murderous intent. What an elite Ming army!

Behind them, there were nearly 3,000 defeated Ming soldiers who were reorganizing. Although they had fled without any weapons or armor, they now had some semblance of a military formation. They were also re-equipped one after another and deployed according to the infantry formation of the Ming army to protect their left and right sides.

"My Lord, the firearms of the Ming army on the opposite side are fierce. I fought desperately and lost most of my men and horses, but still failed to break through. I... I... am guilty." Niulu Zhangjing, who had escaped earlier, knelt down and told Manggurtai what had just happened. The more Manggurtai listened, the more he frowned.

This Niulu Zhangjing led nearly a few hundred people to attack the enemy's army, but they retreated without even touching the hair of the Ming army, and more than half of them were killed. Such a defeat is simply unimaginable. You know, the strong fighting power of the Eight Banners has always been what Manggurtai is proud of. Hundreds of elite Eight Banners, including a dozen white armors, were beaten like this by just a thousand Ming troops? A ball of anger suddenly surged up, and Manggurtai's cold eyes fell on this Niulu Zhangjing. Listening to him tremblingly apologizing to him and talking about the strong fighting power of the Ming army on the opposite side, Manggurtai couldn't help it.

"Since you know your crime, you can go to die!" Manggurtai said. Niulu Zhangjing, who was kneeling, was shocked when he heard the voice. When he was about to beg for mercy, Manggurtai, who was riding on a horse, had already drawn his long sword. He only heard the sound of the sword whistling through the air and then his neck felt cold. His head was chopped off by Manggurtai. A stream of blood spurted out of the neck of the headless corpse, and then the corpse fell softly to the side.

He killed the opponent with one sword, and Manggurtai's expression remained unchanged, as if he had killed a chicken with ease.

He did not put away his sword, but pointed it directly at the retreating Eight Banners soldiers: "You are afraid of the enemy and do not move forward, and you escape without permission. This is an unforgivable crime! If anyone is cowardly and afraid of fighting again, this person will end up like you!"

Everyone was terrified. They saw with their own eyes that Manggurtai suddenly became furious and chopped off the head of Niulu Zhangjing. They also knew that this prince had always been moody. Since he had killed his superior, it was possible that he would kill them all in a rage. What's more, these Eight Banners soldiers who retreated were not Niulu of Manggurtai's Zhenglan Banner, but Hauge's subordinates. When Manggurtai got angry, he would not even give face to Huang Taiji, let alone his nephew Hauge?

Just as he was panicking, Manggurtai pointed at someone and said, "You! It's you! You will temporarily lead the remaining troops and organize the army to charge the battle line for me. As long as you break the Ming army formation, you will be rewarded and I will forgive you for your mistakes!"

"Hey!" The person being pointed at was Boshiku, a military position within the Eight Banners, lower in rank than Niulu Zhangjing, mainly responsible for general affairs in the army. From a modern perspective, it is equivalent to the functions of a deputy and a staff officer.

Although he was named as the temporary leader of Niulu Zhangjing, he did not show any joy at all, but was instead filled with anxiety.

Manggurtai made it clear that he wanted to lead the remaining troops to charge again, but he had just fled back with his superiors, and he knew very well how strong the Ming army was. If he had not been in a forward position when he charged, and had not fled quickly when he saw the situation was not good, he might have lost his life like those who died in the battle. And now Manggurtai actually ignored it and asked him to lead the troops to charge again. He was asking him to die!
Thinking of this, he was disheartened, but he dared not disobey Manggurtai's order. Because Manggurtai was not only the leader of the Zhenglan Banner, but also one of the four great beiles. Not to mention a small Boshiku, even the high-ranking Jiala Zhangjing or even Meile Zhangjing could not do anything to Manggurtai. Unless Hauge came in person, no one could stop Manggurtai from giving orders.

Moreover, the internal system of the Eight Banners was strict. If he did not obey Manggurtai's orders, not only could Manggurtai kill him immediately, but even his parents, wife and children would suffer in the future. Rather than dying in vain at the hands of Manggurtai, it would be better to fight. If he could really break through the formation, he would have made a great contribution. Even if he died in front of the formation, it would not bring disaster to his family.

After calming down, he showed a resolute look on his face, and began to organize his troops to continue charging with his brothers who had escaped. The Eight Banners soldiers had similar ideas to his, and they also understood the pros and cons. Moreover, as the elite of the Eight Banners, they had already put life and death aside. They were all going to die anyway, so it was worth it to make their death more meaningful.

"My Lord, I feel that there may be a few too few people." Jiala Zhangjing beside Manggurtai took a look at the people who were making preparations and couldn't help but remind him.

Manggurtai glanced over and saw that there were indeed not many of these people, only a little over a hundred, and some of them were injured. There were quite a few Ming troops on the opposite side, and they looked very elite, so such a small number of people was indeed too few.

Nodding, Manggurtai looked at the people he brought with him. Most of his team were elite soldiers of the Zhenglan Banner, and there were also a few cavalrymen from other banners. He immediately asked Jiala Zhangjing to select 200 people from them and combine them with the Eight Banners soldiers who were preparing to charge. In this way, there would be more than 300 people, which was just right for charging.

"Lord Beile, how about sending more?"

"No need! This place is inside the Ming army camp. The terrain is complicated and large troops cannot be deployed. No matter how many people there are, it will be useless. These people are just right." Although Manggurtai is reckless, he is also a veteran who has experienced many battles. Of course, he understands that sometimes fighting a war is not just about numbers. The terrain here is not convenient for large cavalry charges. There are Ming army tents and discarded debris all around. Moreover, the terrain chosen by the Ming army on the opposite side is obviously carefully selected. With their backs against the moat, they avoid the possibility of being attacked from behind. The left and right wings not only have the gathered Ming army as cover, but also several tents as barriers.

On the front, the area for charging was not large. If more than 300 cavalrymen charged, it would be fine, but if there were more, it would be crowded. Manggurtai had been through hundreds of battles, so how could he not understand the purpose of the other side's formation? So he directly rejected his subordinates' suggestions and let the more than 300 Eight Banners soldiers charge.

(End of this chapter)