The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 597 Ships like locks, boats like a forest
On the tenth day of the fourth lunar month, around 5 a.m.

As dawn broke and the capital city seemed to be still asleep, commands resounded and hooves thundered both inside and outside the palace.

The brand-new shuttle boats had already entered through the Deshengmen water gate and arrived at Taiye Pond.

The elite Imperial Guards and the elite Embroidered Uniform Guards have already begun leading their warhorses onto the ships.

At the Yuhe Bridge dock, little Zhu Changxun was dancing around in Empress Wang's arms, and Song Yingxing, standing to the side, couldn't help but show a look of anticipation on his face.

They all wanted to see what a battlefield with thousands of troops looked like.

Empress Wang asked with a worried expression, "Your Majesty, must you really take Xun'er with you?"

of course.

You think the battlefield is more dangerous than the palace?

If I am not here, Xun'er will be in more danger in the palace than on the battlefield!
Wanli nodded slowly and said, "Xun'er must go to the battlefield to see what it's like."

This time it's perfect, we don't even need to go into the mountains, we can just look across the river with binoculars.

It's impossible for the Jurchens to break through the blockade of the navy and the Beijing garrison and reach our side.

"Don't worry, there's absolutely no danger this time. I'm just taking Xun'er to have a look."

Okay.

With great reluctance, Empress Wang placed little Zhu Changxun into the arms of Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan, and did not forget to carefully instruct him: "Xun'er, after you go there, you must listen to your father and not run around."

Oh dear, stop talking, I can't wait to leave.

Xiao Zhu Changxun nodded repeatedly and said, "Mother, don't worry, I won't run around."

Alright, it's time to go.

Emperor Wanli waved to Empress Wang and then announced loudly, "Board the ship and depart."

This time he even brought the Imperial Guards, but they didn't wear golden armor; they wore the standard armor of the Imperial Guard officers.

He didn't let all the Imperial Guards squeeze onto their boat. With three top experts like Li Xuancheng, Shan Sinan, and Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan around, there was no need to worry about safety.

Jinwuwei Nadu led his warhorse onto the four shuttle boats on either side, while he, along with Li Xuancheng, Shan Sinan, Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan, and a group of eunuchs, boarded the middle shuttle boat.

Soon, the five ships slowly left the dock, heading north and quickly merging into the fleet of Imperial Guards and Embroidered Uniform Guards, heading straight for the moat.

This flying shuttle is really fast; its speed is comparable to that of a galloping horse.

Soon, a long line of shuttle boats appeared on the North Moat, East Moat, and Tonghui River.

This long dragon sped along, crossing the North Canal and the Hai River, heading straight into the inland sea, and hurtling towards Liaodong.

At this moment, the naval centipede ships moored on the North Canal and the Haihe River also moved, following behind the flying shuttle ships, and rowed desperately toward the inland sea.

The dragon was getting longer and longer, seemingly without end.

If the flying shuttle travels at its speed, day and night without stopping, it will take less than three days to reach the Northern King City.

However, Emperor Wanli did not order the flying shuttle to travel in such a hurry.

Because the Songliao Grand Canal will not be completely thawed until mid-April, and even if the soldiers on the centipede boat rowed day and night, they could not catch up with the speed of the flying shuttle boat.

So they traveled at a stop-and-go pace, covering only about 500 li each day, until April 15th when they finally arrived at Qingyunwei, the starting point of the Songliao Grand Canal, with their centipede boat.

Around 5 PM on April 16th, thousands of shuttle boats finally arrived at the canal wharf outside Beiwang City.

At this time, Zhu Changxu, the Prince of the North, and Qi Jiguang had been waiting at the dock for a long time.

They had barely stepped onto the dock when things got a bit chaotic again.

Prince Zhu Changxu of the North kept trying to get into the arms of Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan, and Little Zhu Changxun couldn't push him away no matter what.

Qin Yiming, however, looked disappointed because Princess Rongchang had not come this time.

Wanli glanced at the sky and simply waved his hand, saying, "Let's go, let's go into the city and talk."

At this time, the Northern King City seemed to be almost finished being built. However, there were still few people in the shops on both sides of the street. They were all filled with various supplies, and even the streets were lined with them.

The supplies were piled up like mountains on the open ground of the Northern Prince's Mansion.

After this battle, the Northern King City became a rear storage place for grain and supplies, with an enormous amount of food and materials piled up inside.

In the twilight, nothing could be seen clearly, and Wanli did not take a close look at how the Northern Prince's Mansion was being built.

He immediately had Qi Jiguang lead them to the side hall where the map was displayed, and then pointed to the map and asked, "Yuanjing, where are the various armies roughly located now?"

Qi Jiguang quickly pointed to the map and explained in detail: "Your Majesty, the Fourth Battalion of the Divine Pivot and the Second Battalion of the Divine Machine have already arrived in the eastern part of the Sanjiang Plain. Their encampment is about two hundred li away from the west bank of the Asu River."
The Shenwu Camp grazed its livestock on the grasslands east of the Shenshu Camp and Shenji Camp, while the border cavalry had already gathered at the Beiping Regional Military Command.

Liang Yu and his men had already arrived at Shuangchengwei and set up camp, preparing to enter the mountains to wipe out the enemy. Their vanguard was only about ten miles from the southern edge of Yongle Mountain.

This means that the border cavalry were a bit far from their designated position.

Wanli nodded slightly, thought about it carefully, and then asked, "Approximately how many days will it take for the border cavalry to reach the Shuangchengwei line?"

This distance is a bit far.

Qi Jiguang pointed to the map and explained in detail: "Your Majesty, the place where they gathered is more than two thousand miles away from Shuangchengwei. Even if they travel three hundred miles a day, it will still take about seven days."

There's no need to rush like this.

Wanli pondered, "It's still early, we don't need to rush. Today is only the 16th, it's not too late to start the attack on the 26th or even the 28th."

Here's what we'll do: have them reach the Shuangchengwei front line on the 25th, and have the Shenshu Battalion, Shenji Battalion, and Shenwu Battalion also arrive at the west bank of the Asuri River on the 25th to set up defenses.

"We also need to prepare our naval warships; we must block off both the waterways and sea routes on the 25th." Oh, there are still almost ten days left.

There's really no need to rush.

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Emperor Wanli explained in detail: "This time I also brought one million newly recruited garrison soldiers. Tomorrow, the naval warships will bring them over. Then, let them march along the south bank of the Songhua River to the west bank of the Asuri River to set up defenses."

You also brought with you over a million newly recruited garrison soldiers!

Isn't that almost three million troops?

When Qi Jiguang heard this, he was stunned.

He simply couldn't understand why so many troops had to be mobilized to besiege tens of thousands of Jurchens.

Nurhaci never expected that Wanli would mobilize nearly three million troops to besiege them.

He then discovered that 400,000 Sichuan soldiers had suddenly set up camp in the Shuangchengwei area.

They looked like they were about to storm into the mountains and deal with them.

He thought that these 400,000 troops were the entire Ming army that had been sent to deal with him.

They couldn't defeat 400,000 troops, but they should be able to evade them without much trouble.

He was even prepared to wait and see before deciding what to do.

If these 400,000 troops were to split into several groups and enter the mountains, he would want to take down a few groups to scare away the others.

Who would have thought that after 400,000 Sichuan soldiers set up camp in the Shuangchengwei area, they didn't move for half a month!

On April 25th, around noon, wisps of smoke rose from the Sichuan Army camps stationed in the Shuangchengwei area.

At this moment, more than a hundred miles to the north, smoke seemed to be rising from the vast Yongle Mountains.

This is not a wildfire, but someone is starting a fire.

Nurhaci is right here; all his men are hidden in this mountain forest.

However, at first glance, they are not visible.

Because they were skilled at building well-hidden stone fortresses.

The so-called stone fortress is built by piling up rocks from the mountains to form walls, then placing tree branches on top, and finally covering it with a thick layer of fallen leaves or even turf. From a distance, it looks no different from the surrounding mountains and forests, providing excellent concealment.

This is somewhat similar to the temporary shelters built in the mountains by wilderness survival experts in later generations.

For hundreds of years, the Jurchens lived by fishing and hunting in the Changbai Mountains and Heilongjiang River region, so building these stone fortresses was something they were extremely skilled at.

Nurhaci was also in a newly built stone fortress at this moment.

He was just about to roast some wild game when a guard suddenly rushed in, bowed, and said, "Reporting, Great Khan, smoke signals are rising from the direction of Biwa Lake."

what?
Are Ming troops still advancing from the direction of Biwa Lake?
Upon hearing this, Nurhaci's heart skipped a beat.

Aren't the 400,000 Ming troops stationed in these two cities the entirety of the army?

There's another road leading towards Biwa Lake!
Are they coming to encircle and wipe them out?

How should he deal with being besieged by two armies?

As he was frowning in deep thought, another guard rushed in, bowed, and said, "Reporting, Great Khan, smoke signals have risen from the direction of the Asuri River."

Ah!
The Ming army definitely intended to encircle and annihilate them.

This is already three routes.

Nurhaci was startled upon hearing this.

He was even considering whether or not to run away.

At this moment, another guard rushed in, bowed, and said, "Reporting, Great Khan, smoke signals are rising from the direction of Heilongjiang in the north."

what?
Upon hearing this, Nurhaci jumped up from his chair.

The Ming army had surrounded him on the west, south, and north sides, leaving only the east side. He had to run away quickly.

Fortunately, he had secretly prepared sheepskin rafts and wooden rafts. As long as they reached the narrowest point of the Tartary Sea in the northeast, they could escape to the vast area north of the Heilongjiang River via Kuyi Island in a few days.

Just as he was preparing to gather his army and flee, another guard rushed in, bowed, and said, "Reporting, Great Khan, smoke signals are rising from the direction of the Tatar Sea in the east."

It’s over.

The Ming Dynasty Navy!

Upon hearing this, Nurhaci was greatly alarmed and slumped back into his chair.

They were surrounded on all sides, and even the sea route was not spared.

How many troops did the young emperor of the Ming Dynasty send to besiege them?
At this moment, on the Tatar sea, towering Fujianese warships, resembling city towers, were already winding their way from the direction of Kuyi Island like a chain.

The boats, resembling centipedes, are densely packed along the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River and the Asuri River all the way to the vicinity of Pipa Lake, almost as if a row of jungles had suddenly sprung up on the river surface.

There are also countless troops rushing towards Yongle Mountain from the plains on the west bank of the Asuri River and along the line from Pipa Lake to Shuangchengwei.

The Jurchen scouts on guard were terrified.

(End of this chapter)