Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 155 Soldiers who are not afraid of death have a strong morale.

In the Battle of Da'ankou, Huang Taiji, enraged, led his army to attack the city. This time, in his campaign against the Ming Dynasty, he did not build siege weapons, but instead brought hundreds of cannons.

Although they despised the Ming Dynasty's defensive tactics of relying on fortified cities and cannons, they were equally eager to learn from them. The Ming Dynasty didn't mind imitating Western firearms, and the Jurchens didn't mind adopting the Ming army's tactics. Being backward meant being vulnerable to attack.

The Jurchens unleashed a barrage of arrows, suppressed the city walls with artillery fire, and launched a rapid assault using siege ladders. The Ming soldiers on the walls, though brave enough, could only retaliate with sparse arrows. The only remaining cannon, the "Second General Cannon," fell silent after a quarter of an hour, its gunner killed by the Jurchen vanguard.

The Jurchens grinned maliciously and turned their cannons around, unleashing a barrage of fire from the Ming army's own artillery on the city walls. In the narrow passages, there was no way to avoid the attack; each shot killed or wounded dozens. As more and more Jurchens scaled the walls, Huang Taiji ordered a halt to the archery. The garrison commander, unfamiliar with battle formations, gathered a dozen trusted retainers and over a hundred soldiers to form a fierce resistance, attempting to drive the Jurchens off the walls.

The soldiers in front held swords and shields, while those behind raised spears, with musketeers filling the gaps. This could have been considered a decent battle formation, but when muskets fired at the Jurchen soldiers, they seemed unfazed and continued their relentless charge.

"Kill!!" the garrison commander roared, thrusting his spear forward, but the enemy dodged to the side, tucking the spear shaft under his arm. He grabbed the end of the shaft and twisted it forcefully, causing the garrison commander to feel an immense force, lose his balance, and stumble, nearly falling to the ground.

His servant seized the opportunity and launched a sneak attack from the side, slashing the Jurchen man in the waist with such force that it made his own hand ache, but he only saw a string of sparks and no blood seeping from the enemy.

The Jurchen man's face showed pain. He released his spear and swung his sword in retaliation. One, two, three slashes, without any skill, relying entirely on brute force, he cut the guard down to one knee. The hand that held the back of the sword was a bloody mess, and both of their swords were turned into jagged serrations.

Whoosh! A sharp spear pierced the neck of the Jurchen. He turned his head in disbelief, trying to utter something, but blood kept gushing from his throat.

The garrison commander pulled out his spear, and the enemy soldier collapsed to the ground, convulsing.

"So, the Jurchens can still be killed after all?" the garrison commander thought bitterly.

"General, we've done our best, let's escape!!!" the garrison commander's servant shouted to him.

"Are you scared?!"

The servant shook his head and said, "I'm not afraid, I'll cover the rear."

The garrison commander looked around and saw that of his more than three hundred men, less than a hundred were still standing. Meanwhile, the enemy's numbers were increasing. At first, it took several men to barely hold off one enemy soldier, but now several enemy soldiers were attacking one of them and easily killing him.

"If you're not afraid, do you think I'm a coward? If I wanted to escape, I would have done so long ago! Why have I delayed until now! Hahaha, my death today is truly exhilarating! Gentlemen, follow me and kill!!!"

shhhhhh!
Twelve feathered arrows pierced the chainmail of the defender at Da'ankou, and he fell on the way of the charge. From the moment the Jurchen archers scaled the city walls, the battle became one-sided. The defenders' shields were pierced by arrows, and their newly issued cotton armor could withstand the cuts of blades, but it could not stop the powerful bows and arrows of the Jurchens. The defenders relied on their superior position, using guns, cannons, and crossbows to repel the enemy, and rolling stones and logs to prevent them from scaling the walls.

Unfortunately, as the defenders, they were completely overwhelmed by the attacking forces and couldn't even lift their heads. Once the enemy successfully scaled the walls, their advantage vanished.

The moment the battle began, the walls of Da'ankou fell. Half an hour later, the entire Da'ankou garrison was annihilated, with not a single soldier surrendering.

The city gates of Da'ankou slowly opened, revealing a pile of corpses half a person's height at the entrance. Huang Taiji gently lifted the reins, and his warhorse, dripping with blood, entered the pass. The battle was brief; the Jurchens, as the attacking side, suffered only a little over a hundred casualties. However, Huang Taiji showed little joy.

The victory was equally overwhelming, but he noticed a subtle change. When he first captured Liaodong, many of the defending troops surrendered or fled. Now, these Ming soldiers were still so weak that they weren't even worthy of his attention, yet they weren't running away.

They looked like greenhorns who had never been on the battlefield, not even knowing how to hold a sword, yet they dared to fight desperately. This showed that the hearts and minds of the people and the army of the Ming Dynasty had not been lost. Today's weakness did not mean that it would remain so in the future. Huang Taiji was extremely grateful for his decision to march south; if he hadn't come, the military strength of the Ming Dynasty would have been restored.

But at the same time, he was also somewhat afraid. Three hundred Ming soldiers had been exchanged for one hundred of their own. The Ming army was too large for the Jurchens to afford. Huang Taiji hoped that other Ming armies wouldn't suffer the same fate, otherwise they might not be able to return unscathed.

However, Huang Taiji was soon comforted. Looking at the Ming general kneeling before him, groveling for mercy, Huang Taiji felt immense contempt, but outwardly he feigned humility and respect. Sure enough, his performance was rewarded.

The surrendered garrison commander of Luowenyu tricked the Ming army into opening the city gates, and they captured the second pass with ease. Unfortunately, after discovering they had been deceived, the defending soldiers did not surrender willingly, but instead launched a fierce and desperate resistance within the city.

As the soldiers of Luowenyu lay dying, they cursed, "The emperor gave us mooncakes, but Li Sili embezzled our pay and rations! We don't understand loyalty to the emperor or patriotism, we just don't want to be dogs for the Jurchens with this beast! We'll die with no face to meet our ancestors!!!"

Upon hearing this, Li Sili turned pale. It wasn't that he had a change of heart or felt ashamed; rather, he knew perfectly well that a surrendered general with troops was a true surrendered general. Without troops, the enemy would dare to send him to attack cities and die next time.

Sure enough, his retribution didn't linger long. During the attacks on Hongshankou and Longjingguan, he was once again sent out to disguise himself as a remnant of the army and trick the city gates into opening. After the failed deception, he was reassigned to the vanguard to swarm the city. Except for the first and second passes, the subsequent passes became increasingly difficult to capture because the defenders had made ample preparations.

During the attack on Hongshan Pass, Li Sili successfully scaled the city wall, though he lost several fingers. Reaching Longjing Pass, however, was far less smooth. The garrison consisted of three thousand soldiers: one thousand local troops and two thousand elite soldiers from the newly arrived Shanxi Garrison. The Shanxi Garrison soldiers still held a strong affection for the Jizhou Garrison soldiers, having fought alongside them against the Tartars the previous year.

The 3,000 defenders created a significant force, and after a day of fierce fighting, the Jurchens hadn't even touched the city walls. That night, taking advantage of the defenders' fatigue, the Jurchens feigned an attack on the north side of the city, then breached the south wall, finally capturing Longjing Pass. In reality, there was little technical skill involved; they relied solely on their numerical superiority.

In this battle, the entire garrison at Longjing Pass was annihilated, the civilians within the city were massacred in a fit of rage, and the military provisions at Longjing Pass were burned to ashes. The Jurchens still hadn't gained much advantage. Seeing that capturing each pass one by one was resulting in too many losses, on the fourth day, Huang Taiji bypassed Hanerzhuang and Panjiakou, and launched a surprise attack on Xifengkou. Two days later, the Ming Dynasty's fifth pass fell.

Huang Taiji remained entrenched along the Great Wall, waiting and waiting, but no reinforcements from the Ming army arrived, much to his frustration. He had initially thought he could fight several open battles; even the most formidable Ming forces couldn't achieve victory without losses in a siege. Although their losses weren't too great in each siege, continuing like this would be extremely painful!
(End of this chapter)