Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 391 Showdown (Part 3)

"What? Huanglong has perished in battle?"

On March 2, 1639, while Zhong Minghui was busy gathering Shandong refugees on Nan Changshan Island, an urgent battle report from Ku Niang Island startled him so much that he jumped up and smashed the teacup in his hand on the ground with a "crash".

Two weeks ago (February 17), General Huang Long of Liaonan Garrison personally led 2 elite troops on a long-distance raid on Haizhou using snowmobiles and other snow-based equipment.

After a day of fierce fighting, the Ming army used several light artillery pieces from Xinhua Land Warfare to blast open the south gate of Haizhou. After slaughtering hundreds of Han Chinese Eight Banner soldiers and bondservants in the city, they once again set fire to the Qing army stronghold.

However, just two days later, when the Ming army returned victorious, they were blocked by two hundred Manchu Eight Banners Plain Yellow Banner cavalry who arrived swiftly.

This Qing cavalry unit came from Liaoyang. After hearing that the Ming army in Lushun and Jinzhou was making frequent unusual movements, Dodo was worried that Haizhou would be attacked. So he sent more than 200 armored cavalry to scout out the Ming army's movements, but unexpectedly ran right into them.

Instead of launching a frontal assault on the Ming army, the Qing army used constant harassment and interception to delay the Ming army's retreat, thus buying time for reinforcements.

When they reached Yingzhou (present-day Yingkou City), the Ming army was finally overtaken by more than 1,500 Eight Banners cavalry who had rushed to pursue them. The entire army was forced to temporarily take refuge in a fortress that had been abandoned for many years, where they confronted the Qing army with their dilapidated fortifications.

After some cautious probing, the Qing forces discovered that this Ming army was not easy to defeat. Relying on several cannons and more than two hundred muskets, the enemy repelled their attacks several times, suffering dozens of casualties.

Therefore, Tan Tai, the commander of the Eight Banners Niru Ejen, dispersed his troops around the area to block the Ming army's retreat, while sending messengers back to Liaoyang to continue to gather reinforcements, determined to annihilate this audacious Ming army in one fell swoop.

In this attack on Haizhou, Huang Long used a light force and a small amount of food.

Although they looted some supplies after capturing Haizhou, the items carried by the officers and soldiers were mostly gold, silver, and valuables.

On the way, they were pursued by the Qing invaders, and a lot of food and other supplies were abandoned, so they could not hold out in Yingzhou for long.

Seeing that things were not going well, Huang Long chose a dark and windy night to prepare for a breakout by his entire army.

If they could escape to Gaizhou, which is dozens of miles away, they would have a chance to catch their breath.

Although Gaizhou is a small city, it has some reserves of supplies. If it can hold out against the Qing forces for a month or two until the sea ice melts and the port thaws, it will be able to get support from the navy.

At that point, we'll have more control over whether to fight or retreat.

However, the Ming army's breakout was a complete suicide.

Thousands of soldiers had just rushed out of the abandoned camp when they fell into an ambush by the Qing army.

That night, the Qing army rained down arrows, cutting down the swarming Ming soldiers wave after wave on the snow like mowing grass.

Immediately afterwards, hundreds of elite Eight Banner troops, clad in multiple layers of heavy armor and wielding long-handled broadswords (similar to the Ming army's horse-slaying swords), charged into the Ming army's ranks like tigers among sheep, hacking and slashing, and none could withstand their onslaught.

The Ming army's firearms battalion only fired one volley of muskets before the Qing army's armored soldiers broke through their formation and scattered in all directions.

Commander Huang Long shouted loudly, trying to regroup the scattered Ming army into ranks and slowly retreat back into the camp to continue holding out for reinforcements.

But during the fierce battle, a stray arrow pierced his neck, killing him instantly.

Lieutenant General Li Weiluan led his men to retrieve Huang Long's body and then led a large group of defeated soldiers back to their camp.

Perhaps to avoid heavy casualties, or perhaps to plan a siege and ambush reinforcements, the Qing army, after dealing with the Ming troops outside the camp who had not yet escaped, did not take advantage of the situation to launch a strong attack, but continued to surround the camp.

When the news reached Lushun, Shang Kexi, the deputy general temporarily in charge of Liaonan Town affairs, immediately mustered 3,000 troops to go to the rescue.

Unexpectedly, upon reaching the vicinity of Gaizhou, they were ambushed by the Qing army and suffered a crushing defeat, losing more than half of their troops. They retreated in disarray to Jinzhou. Seeing that the Liaonan Garrison could not resolve this crisis on its own, Shang Kexi had no choice but to send out multiple envoys to seek help from all directions.

In desperation, he even humbled himself and begged General Shen Shikui of Dongjiang Town, hoping that Shen would send reinforcements to rescue Li Weiluan and his remaining troops, considering that they all came from the same lineage.

As a close partner of Liaonan Town, Xinhua naturally received Shang Kexi's letter requesting assistance.

At this critical moment of life and death, let's all lend a hand to our brother!
If the thousands of elite officers and soldiers besieging Yingzhou were all annihilated, then the Liaonan Garrison, which had been established for less than two years, would likely fall apart and perish.

The strongholds and fortresses of Gaizhou, Jinzhou, Fuzhou, Yongning, and Xiongyue would inevitably be unable to be preserved, and even Lushun would be difficult to hold at that time.

"The Qing invaders were able to sweep across the world and seize control of China; it was no accident that they were able to do so!" Zhong Minghui took a deep breath, crumpled the battle report into a ball, and casually threw it into the sea.

The paper ball was quickly swallowed by the waves, just like Huang Long and his four thousand elite Ming soldiers, disappearing into the torrent of this chaotic world.

In recent years, they have tried their best to support the Dongjiang faction, including Huang Long and Shen Shikui, and have also stirred up trouble in Korea, hoping to curb the Qing dynasty's development momentum to some extent.

Unexpectedly, after decades of fighting and battles, and through one military victory after another, their power had been established and their foundation had become increasingly solid. They were far beyond what we could restrain or cut off with our small skirmishes, and we could not possibly trap them in the snowy plains of Liaodong.

Zhong Minghui looked out at the swirling dark clouds, which seemed to be relentlessly pressing down on the earth, making it hard to breathe.

He recalled the old general's drunken boast when he and Huang Long drank together atop Lushun last autumn: "One day I'll lead my troops to the gates of Shenyang!"

The words still echo in our ears, but the man who uttered them has perished in the wilderness.

"How many refugees have been taken in on the island?" He turned to look at a clerk.

"Reporting to the Commander, as of yesterday, the island has taken in over 7,800 refugees." The clerk immediately replied, "However, given the current trend, the number of refugees will increase dramatically. News from Penglai County indicates that refugees from Jinan and Qingzhou have reached Huangxian, numbering over 100,000, and will arrive in Dengzhou soon..."

Are there any defeated soldiers?

"Maybe... there will be."

“In the next few days, pick out all the defeated soldiers and transport them all to Ku Niang Island for retraining,” Zhong Minghui instructed. “In addition, find more ships from Dengzhou Port and hurry up and transfer the refugees on the island to Bai Ling Island and Geng Luo Island.”

"Given the large number of refugees, a preliminary screening can be conducted before accepting them. Craftsmen, artisans, and literate people should be given priority, followed by young adults, young women, and children. As for the others, they can be provided with porridge and rice for now, and we will try our best to sustain them."

"Is the commander-in-chief going to rescue the Ming army trapped in Yingzhou?" the clerk asked cautiously.

“No!” Zhong Minghui shook his head. “The Qing invaders are clearly playing the same old trick of besieging a point and attacking reinforcements, annihilating the reinforcements one by one. How can we just walk into their trap?”

"Those defeated soldiers who were picked out..." The clerk looked at him with suspicion.

“Those defeated soldiers are not meant for the front lines.” A strange light flashed in Zhong Minghui’s eyes, and his right hand unconsciously pressed against his sword.

"But if we don't rescue the Ming army trapped in Yingzhou, then Liaonan Garrison will probably... probably collapse."

"You have to give up something to gain something."

“Huh?…” The clerk was taken aback.

"Since the Tartars want to play the 'encircle and annihilate reinforcements' game, let's teach them what a real 'luring the tiger away from the mountain' strategy is!" His sword was drawn half an inch from its sheath with a "clang," the gleam reflecting a sinister smile.
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(End of this chapter)