Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 118 Battle of Shanhaiguan

October 13, noon,
The King of Qin led 5,000 officers and soldiers of the Vanguard Cavalry Battalion and arrived at Shanhaiguan first.

Shanhaiguan is located on the west side of the Yanshan Mountains and east side of the Bohai Bay. It was built on the basis of the Great Wall. The northern wall is part of the Great Wall, and the east and west walls are connected to the Great Wall, so the city is used as a pass.

When the King of Qin crossed the moat and arrived at the South Gate, he could hear deafening shouts and cries from the opposite direction, accompanied by the sound of artillery fire, which was the sound of people defending the city.

After waiting for a long time, someone finally came to open the door for the King of Qin.

Seeing the true face of the King of Qin, the visitor was so happy that he cried. He half-knelt on the ground and clasped his hands and said, "Your Highness, I am Xu Jie, the captain of the Northern Wing Thousand Households. Now the rebel general Geng Bingwen and the Jurchens are invading. The situation ahead is critical. General Yan is commanding the enemy from the Zhendong Tower."

The King of Qin, who had been on a bumpy ride without much rest, looked a little tired, but when he heard this, he became furious and frowned, saying, "Take me there quickly."

Led by Captain Xu, the King of Qin climbed up the city wall of Shanhaiguan and saw two armies outside the pass, each flying the flag of the Jianzhou Jurchens and the flag of Geng Bingwen.

The Jianzhou Jurchens had fewer troops, mainly cavalry, numbering about 2,000, while Geng Bingwen's troops were larger, numbering at least 5,000, mainly infantry, surrounded by cavalry on both wings.

Under the city wall, looking around, there were corpses everywhere, some were soldiers in armor, and more were civilians in coarse linen clothes. Now it seemed that the second round of siege was underway, and a small group of enemy soldiers drove a large number of civilians to the city wall to serve as cannon fodder.

The King of Qin was furious when he saw this. He slapped the city wall and said angrily, "How could Geng Bingwen do such a heinous thing! These were all the people under his rule. Are they going to die in vain on the battlefield just for his own selfish desires?"

The King of Qin was so furious that he wished he could cut him into pieces.

Soon, the Shanhaiguan garrison commander Yan Song came over quickly. Seeing His Royal Highness, he was also very excited. He half-knelt on the ground and clasped his hands, saying, "Your Highness, Geng Bingwen is ambitious and has driven the garrison troops and their families who are unwilling to participate in the rebellion to serve as a meat mountain. This has made it difficult for us to use our artillery and crossbows. We have been fighting for a whole day and still cannot repel the enemy. We dare not open the city gate easily."

Liaodong is located outside the Great Wall and has a certain degree of independence from the interior.

Among them, the garrison troops were armed in wartime and cultivated land in idle time. In contrast, the Cao troops did not go to the fields to work on the farm and could be considered as full-time troops. In the six towns of Liaodong, there were quite a few reclaimed wastelands. In order to satisfy their own selfish desires, most of the garrison commanders converted more Cao troops into garrison troops, which allowed them to deduct more military pay and collect more food, killing two birds with one stone.

The proportion of troops stationed in military camps became increasingly larger, and some even simply evolved into tenants and no longer engaged in military activities, which greatly reduced the combat effectiveness of the Six Garrisons of Liaodong.

Those who were now being used as cannon fodder were all once citizens of Dachang. Some of their families were even military households of Dachang. They had shed blood and suffered injuries for Dachang. Under such circumstances, how could the King of Qin not be furious?

"How many civilians are there who were dragged here by them?"

The King of Qin spoke with a murderous tone, his eyes fixed on the distance.

Yan Song quickly responded, "They have trapped thousands of people on the hillside outside the pass, and the ones running over now are the last survivors."

"Are there any firearms in the enemy's formation?"

Yan Song shook his head and said, "They fired a few cannons the day before, but they didn't cause much damage to the city wall. Also, because they hadn't been used for a long time, many of the cannons exploded. Now they don't dare to fire easily."

"What about the Jurchens?"

"The Jurchens still mainly use bows and crossbows, and this team is light cavalry, so they rarely come to attack the city."

The King of Qin nodded and had a rough idea in his mind.

Geng Bingwen was on a pirate ship, being forced by the Jurchens to come and attack the pass to investigate the deployment of the garrison at Shanhaiguan, or to lure the enemy, but the King of Qin was not afraid.

"Well."

The King of Qin turned around and said to the old generals of the King of Qin's Palace who were with him, "Captain Yang, Captain Liu, call up the Yulin Army and the Beijing Camp, each with a thousand elite cavalrymen, with armor and firearms. Open the city gates in a while and follow me out of the city to fight."

Yan Song was startled when he heard this, and advised: "Your Highness, if we open the gate now, we will face an enemy force several times greater than ours, and the people under our gate are in disarray. If a spy sneaks in, wouldn't it be more trouble than gain?"

The King of Qin explained, "You have been fighting for a day. From a distance, I see that the enemy's formation is somewhat loose. They must not know that I am here. I am going out now to catch them off guard. Moreover, there are no trenches or chevaux de frise in front of their formation. Chariots can restrain cavalry. They also know that you will not leave the city easily."

"Now is the best time for me to lead the troops to attack. As for the civilians who have been brought in, they should be settled in one place first. It is your job to identify the traitors. Do I need to teach you? I can't watch the civilians die just because one or two spies entered the city!"

This choice between two options with clear pros and cons is also a modern tram problem. But as the crown prince, the King of Qin can only stand on the side of justice. He cannot go against his own heart. "He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world."

"This……"

Yan Song was speechless and had no choice but to obey the military order.

The King of Qin continued, "When I was forming the battle line outside the pass, they fired cannons and crossbows for protection. When they saw my great banner raised, they stopped firing and welcomed the people."

After saying this, the King of Qin quickly walked down the city wall and picked up his lance.

The two thousand elite cavalrymen that the King of Qin was going to take out of the city were heavy cavalrymen with armor on both horses and men, and they were also the killer weapon of the King of Qin's northern expedition. Half of them were veterans who had previously served as the imperial guards, and the other half were elites selected from the Beijing camp, each of whom was a strong man who could use a three-stone hard bow and had extraordinary physical strength.

But after all, the enemy was several times larger than his own, so the King of Qin did not dare to underestimate the enemy and gave orders to everyone before the battle.

"Check armor and firearms. Open the city gates and line up outside the city. Fire the cannons to blind the horses and attack Geng Bingwen's banner first!"

"As ordered!"

The King of Qin whispered a few words to the captain of the Beijing cavalry beside him, set up the final protection, then held up his lance and stood in front of the formation.

The city gate slowly opened, and teams of cavalry quickly rushed out and formed a line outside the city.

At the same time, cannons and crossbows on the city walls fired at the distance as hard as they could, raising clouds of sand and gravel.

In the army formation under the banner of Geng Bingwen, the actual leader was not himself, but his adjutant Mu Lin, who accompanied the Jurchens to set up an ambush.

"General Mu, the city gate is open!"

At that time, a soldier came forward to report to him.

Mu Lin's face lit up, and he said, "This Yan Song is really patient. He only opened the city gate when the road below the city turned into blood and mud. Well, it's a good thing that it's opened. I was afraid that he would really retreat into the city, otherwise wouldn't it be a waste of time?"

"Beat the drums and form the battle line. Once the artillery fire stops, the whole army will move forward!"

Accompanied by the sound of drums, Mulin's troops gradually changed from a square formation to a wedge formation. When the flying sand and dust dissipated and the artillery fire stopped, the entire army was about to move forward and attack the city gate, but they saw that the armored cavalry in assault formation were coming forward to meet them.

There was a large banner with the word "Qin" written on it in golden characters.

"Is there a general named Qin in Shanhaiguan?"

Just as Mulin was in a trance, the army around him began to panic and seemed to be gradually retreating.

A soldier came to report quickly, shouting: "General, it's bad. That's the King of Qin, the black-armored soldiers of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!" "What? The King of Qin is coming? Don't you want the capital anymore? Aren't the northern barbarians going to attack the capital?"

Not only Mu Lin, but also the soldiers around him, all sensed the identity of the enemy. As the people of the former Dachang, everyone knew that the King of Qin was full of martial virtues and that he had never suffered a major defeat at the border.

And the current Black Armored Army is even more famous. Now that it is in front of me, I know how powerful the legendary Black Armored Army is.

At this critical moment, someone from the Jurchen army came to ask, "General Mu, the enemy is coming and we need to meet them as soon as possible! Our army will attack from the flanks, and with reinforcements coming from behind, we can defeat these elite troops in one fell swoop and inflict heavy damage on the enemy! Don't miss this opportunity!"

Hearing this, Mulin gritted his teeth and gave the order: "Quickly form a battle array, sword and shield soldiers step forward!"

However, he rode his horse backwards silently, protecting the soldiers in front of him.

At the city gate, the King of Qin led the troops and rode forward on horseback.

Not far away, I saw that the Jurchens who had driven the people of Dachang for fun were being bombarded by artillery fire and were lying on the ground, unable to get up and mount their horses.

The King of Qin raised the long spear at his waist and thrust it out suddenly when he got close.

The Jurchen soldier was about to stand up when he heard the sound of horse hooves, but when he opened his eyes, the horse spear was already pointed at his face. He had no time to react to the situation before his head was pierced through and blood gushed out.

As a Jurchen fell to the ground, the King of Qin's anger subsided a little. He picked up his lance again, and after fighting for a while, he went straight to Geng Bingwen's banner.

The King of Qin, dressed in golden armor, was extremely conspicuous among the black-armored soldiers. This was why the soldiers who were currently under Geng Bingwen's banner were horrified and no longer held out any hope, thinking that it was some other Qin general.

"This won't do. How can we be hostile to the prince?"

"We are no match at all."

"These Jurchens have been killing our Liao people. Now that His Royal Highness has reached Shanhaiguan, why don't you turn against them? When will you?"

Someone shouted, waking everyone up from their dream. They searched the formation but found Mu Lin was nowhere to be found.

The soldiers quickly abandoned Geng Bingwen's banner, and except for those who fled in all directions, the rear army became the front army and rushed straight towards the Jurchen army.

The situation on the field changed rapidly. When the King of Qin saw this scene, he felt a little relieved. He and this group of rebels formed the rear guard and rushed towards the Jurchens together.

The Jurchens originally wanted to lure the enemy with light cavalry in front of the hillside, but behind the hillside they had more than 5,000 cavalry with flags flying. But now, in order to support the front army, they had to go out together to consolidate the battle line.

The rebels charged for a round, and the Jurchens were still able to hold out. But when the King of Qin led the armored cavalry in, he immediately knocked the Jurchen light cavalry off their horses and men, then raised his muskets and fired three rounds, sending iron sand flying everywhere, and had already created a gap in the Jurchen front army.

Hu Erhan, who was in charge of the rear army, angrily shouted, "Who is this person sent by Geng Bingwen? How could he turn against us in the middle of a battle? He will only cause trouble for us!"

A messenger came to Hu Erhan and said, "Gushan Ezhen, this enemy is fierce and seems to be the personal army of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Dachang. Should we avoid their attack?"

The brave and warlike Jurchens were also struggling when facing such an enemy. Although they tried their best to maintain their front line, they still could not resist the enemy's repeated charges. Although they had the advantage in numbers, they suffered too much in terms of armor. Often, two or three people besieged one enemy soldier and could not gain any advantage.

The battle line gradually shifted. Even with him supervising the battle, he could no longer play much of a role, and the momentum gradually shifted to the other side.

Huerhan was somewhat unwilling to accept defeat. Even if he could not capture the city, by eating up these elite cavalry or capturing the Prince of Dachang, his future battles would be bright, and he might even be able to enter the capital first.

Hu Erhan gritted his teeth and issued an order to the troops, "The enemy is exhausted and rushed to the front overnight. They must be weak. Our army should launch an offensive and surround them!"

But seeing that the Jianzhou Jurchen cavalry was about to encircle them from both wings, more than a thousand cavalry emerged from the city gate of Shanhaiguan and arrived at the front line as reinforcement.

Hu Erhan's guards suggested: "Gushan Ezhen, even if we lost the first battle, it did not disrupt our plan. Moreover, the reputation of the Dachang prince is so great that it is impossible to capture him in one fell swoop. Now that he has arrived, if we continue to fight here, reinforcements will come out from the interior of the pass!"

"The Liao people misled me!"

With a sigh, Hu Erhan said helplessly: "Forget it, I haven't suffered a defeat in a long time, so I just got a little angry. Let's stick to the original plan."

"Order, the front troops provide cover and retreat!"

The Jianzhou Jurchens' banner retreated far away, and thunderous cheers broke out from the walls of Shanhaiguan.

"General Yan, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has won!"

"I can see it! That's His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. How can we lose the battle?" Yan Song looked around and ordered, "Hurry up and clean up the battlefield and bring His Royal Highness the Crown Prince back."

He and the King of Qin in front of the battle line stabbed the man in front of them with their horse lances once again, ending his life. Then, seeing that the Jianzhou Jurchens were retreating, he gave orders to his left and right.

"Sound the horn to call back the troops, and do not pursue the desperate enemy."

After saying this, the King of Qin felt his stomach churning and the discomfort made him frown slightly.

……

Privy Council, Council Chamber,
The left and right assistant ministers of the Ministry of War came hurriedly, but Yue Ling was nowhere to be seen in the hall. They were so anxious that they were sweating profusely.

"Why is the Grand Commander not on duty in the hall? Where is he?"

The clerks in the hall all shook their heads and said, "Master Yue only came to sit for a while this morning and then left the imperial city?"

"He left the imperial city? Why haven't you found him yet? Something terrible has happened!"

"Something big happened? What happened?"

After hearing the noise, Lu Yuan and Feng Yu came over from the classroom together. When they saw the two senior officials from the Ministry of War, they were so anxious that they scratched their heads like monkeys.

"What else could it be? The northern barbarians are heading south! The day after Your Highness left the city, the border was attacked at night!"

"what?"

Lu Yuan and Feng Yu were surprised when they heard this, "You came so quickly?"

"That's right! It seems like they already knew when His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would go on the expedition. Now that Datong has been lost, the internal security is in danger!"

Feng Yu and Lu Yuan hurriedly ordered the people outside, "Go and find Yue Ling!"

　感谢三天一次一壶酒两斤肉、书友07981、爱渡不渡、酣畅_busy、爱是孤单行星、fu1su、书友21802、稻草假人、书友49398、书海中的星舰、猫爪须在上、靠在窗边数星星、本帮饭菜、解遇匪花、中立守序、SthEIEnk、迁就你一生520、书友09928的月票，感谢大家的支持！！

　　
　
(End of this chapter)