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

Chapter 788: Rescue and Capture the Flag

Yue Tuo was in a state of panic, and Daishan in Shenyang was not much better. He had to send troops to garrison the line from Gaizhou to Jinzhou to prevent the Ming army from landing from this direction again. At the same time, Yue Tuo also needed reinforcements, but Daishan did not have enough troops. If all the troops were sent out, Shenyang would be empty. Once the Ming army found a weak point to land and attack Shenyang, their home base would be in danger.

In desperation, Daishan could only ask for help from Huang Taiji who was at the front line. At this time, Huang Taiji was also a little impatient. He originally planned to let the troops in the rear of Liaodong try their best to maintain the situation, while he continued to besiege Jinzhou and force Zu Dashou to surrender.

You must know that Huang Taiji paid a huge price to capture Jinzhou this time. It has been half a year since the siege of Jinzhou began. According to his estimation, no matter how much food there is in Jinzhou City, it will be almost eaten up after half a year of siege. As long as he makes a little more effort and waits until the food in Jinzhou City is exhausted, Zu Dashou will have no choice but to open the city and surrender.

Just as victory was in sight, a fire broke out in the backyard. It would have been fine if it was just the Ming army harassing the rear, but the Zhenglan Banner rebellion happened.

With the news that Jingwuer and Guan Bao surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, how could Huang Taiji sit still? The rebellion of the Zhenglan Banner was no small matter. The Zhenglan Banner, one of the Eight Banners, was the most powerful of the Eight Banners, and it was Huang Taiji who finally managed to deal with it by various means.

Originally, Huang Taiji planned to kill Manggurtai first, then replace Manggurtai with Degelei as the leader of the banner, and then directly bring the Zhenglan Banner under his own control.

Huang Taiji had already thought about the entire process, and the first two steps had been completed, leaving only the last step.

Huang Taiji originally wanted to completely solve the problem of the Zhenglan Banner after the Battle of Jinzhou. He himself served as the leader of the Zhenglan Banner and set the Zhenghuang Banner, the Xianghuang Banner and the Zhenglan Banner as the top three banners of the Eight Banners to distinguish them from the other five banners, thus confirming the absolute status of the three banners controlled by the imperial power among the Eight Banners.

But no one expected that such a thing would happen at this time. As Jingwuer and Guanbao directly surrendered to the Ming Dynasty and raised the slogan of "Anti-Qing and Supporting Ming", if Huang Taiji did not return to help solve internal problems, the Eight Banners would face the consequences of division.

Compared with taking Jinzhou, the Eight Banners, the foundation of the Qing Dynasty, were more important. How could Huang Taiji dare to gamble? He didn't dare at all. Moreover, the Ming army in Liaodong had already received reinforcements, and the main general who came was Huang Taiji's old rival Hei Yunlong. Although the Ming army was not large in number and could not be compared with Huang Taiji's army of more than 100,000, these Ming troops were not only elite, but also had different tactics from before. They did not fight directly with the Eight Banners soldiers, but only engaged in harassment and guerrilla warfare. Huang Taiji felt as uncomfortable as if he had eaten a fly.

Huang Taiji, who was familiar with "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", finally understood why Cao Cao in the book lamented "chicken ribs". Jinzhou was now a chicken rib to him, tasteless to eat and a pity to throw away. If there had been no changes in the rear, Huang Taiji would naturally take Jinzhou as planned. However, when a fire broke out in the backyard, especially the rebellion of the Zhenglan Banner, Huang Taiji had to make a choice.

Finally, Huang Taiji led his troops to attack Jinzhou for several days, trying to see if he could break through the city. Unfortunately, Zu Dashou defended Jinzhou very well, especially after he had received information about the battle record of friendly forces in Liaodong, and after the news that reinforcements from Xuanda and Jizhou had arrived in Liaodong, Zu Dashou's troops were short of food, but they were not really out of food. Seeing the hope of relief, the soldiers were in high spirits, and they held on to Jinzhou with the advantage of the city and firearms, causing Huang Taiji to suffer heavy casualties under the city, but still failed to capture Jinzhou.

Looking at the tall Jinzhou City in front of him and the Ming army's battle flag still flying on the top of the city, Huang Taiji felt very uncomfortable.

"Pass on my order! Withdraw!" The word "withdraw" came out of Huang Taiji's mouth with difficulty. After giving the order, Huang Taiji pursed his lips and continued to look at the not far away Jinzhou City, with an extremely ugly expression on his face.

On the second day, when the defenders of Jinzhou City discovered that the Qing troops outside the city had suddenly disappeared overnight, they hurriedly reported the situation to Zu Dashou.

Upon hearing the news, Zu Dashou personally climbed up to the top of the city wall to check. After seeing the news, he suppressed his inner excitement and sent people out of the city to investigate. Half a day later, when the scouts out of the city reported that the Qing troops outside the city had indeed withdrawn and there was no trace of the enemy, Zu Dashou, who had been guarding for more than half a year, finally put his mind at ease. He couldn't help laughing, but as he laughed, he couldn't help but shed tears.

After Huang Taiji withdrew his troops, he did not withdraw all of them immediately and quickly. Instead, he divided half of his troops to lure Zu Dashou's troops to follow him, intending to come back and defeat the Ming army. But Zu Dashou was a coward. Even though it was proved that Huang Taiji's troops had withdrawn, he was still cautious. In addition to sending scouts to investigate, his main force continued to guard the city of Jinzhou, waiting for the arrival of reinforcements from the Ningyuan direction. Zu Dashou's move made Huang Taiji completely lose his idea. After waiting for two days, he saw that the Ming army was impeccable and had to withdraw all his troops. At the same time, reinforcements from the Ningyuan direction also arrived in Jinzhou, and the Battle of Jinzhou ended. Although Zu Dashou and his troops suffered a lot in this battle and almost lost Jinzhou, the final result was good after all. Jinzhou was still in the hands of the Ming army and was still defended.

After returning with his troops, Huang Taiji was frustrated and angry. He was not angry because of the guerrilla warfare and harassment of the Ming army in his rear. It was not excessive to adopt such tactics when they were enemies. Wasn't it the same when Mao Wenlong was in Pi Island? Every time the old Khan led his troops to fight the Liao army, Mao Wenlong would send troops from Pi Island to harass the rear, making the Houjin miserable at that time. Now the Ming army is repeating the same trick, and if it were Huang Taiji, he would do the same.

There is no problem with fighting, as long as you use all kinds of tricks, Huang Taiji even admired Zheng Hongkui and Li You who attacked his rear. These two people were able to cause chaos in his rear with only a navy and more than 2,000 troops. There were not many such capable generals, and even on his side, few could compare with them.

The Ming Dynasty is indeed a country with vast territory, rich resources, outstanding people and beautiful scenery. Such a foundation is simply incomparable to the Qing Dynasty. When thinking of Huang Taiji, one cannot help but sigh. If he were the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, with his ability, he would surely have accomplished great achievements, and even surpassed the Qin Shi Huang, Han Wudi, Tang Taizong and Song Taizu in history. It's a pity that although he is now an emperor, he is only the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and the territory occupied by the Qing Dynasty is just Liaodong. How can it be compared with the Ming Dynasty that occupies the whole world?

In addition to the emotion, there was envy and yearning. In addition, Huang Taiji hated the rebellion of the Zhenglan Banner. After returning to Shenyang, he immediately issued a series of orders. On the one hand, he sent troops to stabilize the garrisons in various places and strengthen the connection between the garrisons to avoid untimely response in the event of a surprise attack by the Ming army landing.

Secondly, Huang Taiji directly rejected Yuetuo's suggestion. Although Yuetuo's idea of ​​creating an uninhabited area along the coast was agreed by many people, Huang Taiji expressed his opposition.

Huang Taiji thought that this approach was not worth the loss, especially if he did this, he would have to work hard to appease the Liaodong people through various policies in the past few years, and his previous strategy of promoting the unity of the Manchus and the Han would have failed. Moreover, this no-man's land was equivalent to killing one thousand enemies and injuring two thousand of his own. If he did this, how would he deal with it if the Ming army did not come? Would he just be a coward and ignore it?
If this is the case, where did the Jurchens' courage to forge ahead go? How could the Qing Dynasty be frightened by the thousands of Ming troops and voluntarily abandon the coastal areas and retreat inland? Then how could the Qing Dynasty have the face to rule this land and the people on it?
As for the third and most important aspect, Huang Taiji needs to solve the problem of the Zhenglan Banner as soon as possible, while preventing other banners from following suit and causing divisions.

Huang Taiji directly announced that he would take away the title of leader of the Zhenglan Banner from the Derge class and put it under his control. At the same time, the Zhenghuang Banner, the Xianghuang Banner and the Zhenglan Banner were to be the eight banners directly under the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty and were distinguished from other banners and were called the "upper three banners".

After announcing this, Huang Taiji set about dealing with the internal problems of the Zhenglan Banner. He immediately transferred the Zhenglan Banner stationed in various places back to Shenyang and replaced them with other banners. At the same time, he carried out a major replacement of the Niulu Zhangjing, Jiala Ezhen and others within the Zhenglan Banner to ensure complete control.

The news soon reached Xiuyan City. Tuntaxi of Xiuyan City was shocked when he heard the news. How could he not know what Huang Taiji's move meant? Once all his Niulu were transferred back, including himself, he would definitely not have a good ending if he returned to Shenyang. Huang Taiji was always cruel and ruthless. How Manggurtai died was still fresh in his mind, not to mention him, Jiala Ezhen?
Moreover, Tuntaxi had been exchanging letters with the Ming Dynasty these days, secretly discussing surrendering to the Ming Dynasty. Although he kept this a secret, it was impossible to conceal it completely. Even though Xiuyan City was under his control, he could not ensure that all the Eight Banners soldiers in the city were on the same side as him. He was not even sure that all the Niulu Zhangjing of his five Niulu would stand with him.

Originally, Tuntaxi wanted to fight with the Ming Dynasty a few more times to gain more benefits for himself. But unexpectedly, things suddenly changed like this. Huang Taiji withdrew his troops from Jinzhou and announced the order to raise the Zhenglan Banner to the top three banners the next day after returning to Shenyang. Then he sent people to the Zhenglan Banner to announce his will and asked the Zhenglan Banner stationed in various places to go to Shenyang.

The situation changed so quickly that by the time Tuntaxi learned about this, the people sent by Huang Taiji had already arrived in Xiuyan City and announced his decree in public.

After receiving the order, Tuntaxi immediately said that he would follow the order and lead the troops back to Shenyang, but he still needed to make some preparations before returning to Shenyang. After all, as a garrison, he couldn't just leave at will, and he needed at least a few days. The envoy said that there was no problem, and told him that the red-bordered garrison troops would arrive in Xiuyan City in the next few days. Tuntaxi only needed to prepare for the troops to set off, and then the defense and garrison troops would be handed over, and he didn't need to think about anything else.

Tun Tashi agreed immediately. After sending the envoy away, Tun Tashi returned to his mansion with a frown on his face. The more he thought about it, the more scared he became. Although he had not yet surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, who could guarantee that his affair with the Ming Dynasty would not reach the ears of Huang Taiji?
It would be fine if he didn't go back. Once he returned to Shenyang, he would be like meat on the chopping board, at the mercy of others. By that time, it would be too late for him to regret it.

(End of this chapter)