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

Chapter 165 The Battle of Beijing Begins

On the 12th, the battle report from Tongzhou reached Beijing. Zhu Youjian learned of the massacre at the foot of Tongzhou and fell silent for a moment.

The tens of thousands of victims beneath Tongzhou City were just the tip of the iceberg of the atrocities committed by Huang Taiji. In the month since the Jurchens entered the pass, almost the entire eastern part of the capital region had fallen, with more than a dozen cities and towns falling and countless villages being plundered.

Although the order to scorch the city had been issued, it was clear that the Ming dynasty's decrees could not keep up with the Jurchen invasion, and in war zones, these decrees were practically ineffective. Moreover, even those civilians who managed to escape into the cities ultimately met their demise. Apart from Beijing, there were no cities the Jurchens could not conquer; it was simply a matter of how much they were willing to pay.

Many small towns lacked well-trained troops to defend them, and even with their best efforts, they could not escape falling. Scouts reported that these cities, which had been captured by the Jurchens, had become ghost towns; men, women, and able-bodied men had been abducted, the old and children had been killed, and the cities themselves had been burned to the ground.

Some bodies were burned to a crisp, while others in open areas were left unburied, devoured by birds and wild dogs, their deaths so gruesome that they brought tears to one's eyes.

Chen Dadu, the prefect of Tongzhou, and Wang Shichang, the garrison commander, took in tens of thousands of people abandoned by Huang Taiji. However, due to the large number of refugees, the amount of relief food needed was enormous.

Although Tongzhou City was a large granary, opening an official granary without authorization was a capital offense, so the two men dared not make the decision on their own. Therefore, they reported to the court and asked the emperor to decide. This time, Zhu Youjian did not hesitate to grant their request to open the granary, as he was willing to spare some grain.

Because many people were injured or sick, Tongzhou was unable to provide treatment, so it requested the court to send doctors and medicinal herbs. This was excellent! Zhu Youjian sent all the hereditary old doctors from the Imperial Medical Academy there, keeping the newly recruited doctors for himself.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the Imperial Medical Academy was divided into thirteen departments, which were later reduced to eleven. Imperial physicians were officials, and when they heard that they were to be sent to Tongzhou, these medical bureaucrats were in a terrible mood. Some wanted to resign, while others made excuses, saying that their specialties were not needed on the battlefield.

Zhu Youjian didn't tolerate this and directly sent troops to arrest them. He explained that with so many refugees, they were bound to encounter all sorts of diseases, and if they didn't know how, they could learn on the spot! "Read ten thousand books and travel ten thousand miles," he said. "How can you learn to treat illnesses by just studying medical books all day? You need to practice more!"

He was still somewhat worried and wrote on the memorial: "Great disasters lead to great epidemics. You should be cautious and take precautions. If any epidemic is discovered, report it as soon as possible, isolate the patients, and do not conceal or delay."

Last year and the year before, some counties in Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces reported small-scale outbreaks of plague, but these were short-lived and quickly disappeared without widespread transmission. However, Zhu Youjian knew that this did not mean the plague had disappeared, but rather that it had gone into hiding. The pathogens had already been sown among the people, and when the conditions were right, they would spread everywhere.

The Shen Shu cavalry successfully entered Tongzhou City, engaging in daily battles with the slave cavalry before returning to the city at dusk. They also dispatched cavalry to travel between the capital and Tongzhou, bringing the latest battle reports from the front lines. Like gold being refined in fire, the Shen Shu cavalry suffered hundreds of casualties daily, reducing their numbers from six thousand to four thousand, but their daily spoils were significantly greater than at the beginning.

The Jurchens were also getting fed up. At first, they were howling and chasing the Ming cavalry away in panic, but later they became polite when they saw Ming cavalry. When the two sides met, they exchanged a few "friendly greetings" and then went their separate ways. After the two sides were evenly matched, scouting became normalized and routine.

Cao Bianjiao now had a scar on his face, a cut that ran from the corner of his left eye across the bridge of his nose down to below his right eye socket. If the cut had been any deeper, it wouldn't have been a simple disfigurement.

The ones who injured him were the brothers Ajige and Dodo, oh, and a young general named Aobai. They came to steal, to deceive, to fight three against one, treating him like Lü Bu—they had no martial ethics! Cao Bianjiao was seething with hatred. What if the princess disliked him and didn't want him anymore?! The commander-in-chief and the vanguard are different. After Cao Wenzhao became the general, he commanded from within the city, rarely leading troops into battle himself. As a result, Huang Taiji, who desperately wanted to capture the main force of the Ming cavalry, had never succeeded. They encountered a cunning Ming army that had learned the Mongol "Mangudai" tactics.

The Ming army had improved significantly, and they were now able to match the Ming's horsepower, even managing to ride two or three horses at a time. Their javelins were not as agile as the Kaiyuan bow, the Ming border army's favorite weapon.

The Ming cavalry also used arquebuses. Although their accuracy was poor, if they hit any part of the body not covered by armor, such as the face, the consequences would be severe. Even if they hit the hands or feet, the victims would either die or be maimed.

Each cavalryman went into battle carrying a bundle of pre-loaded muskets, firing them and then fleeing. The Jurchens' preferred "five-step firing" tactic was very effective against infantry, but it was difficult to be effective against cavalry. After a long period of adaptation, the Ming cavalry stabilized the situation.

However, Cao Wenzhao clearly sensed something amiss with the Jurchens. The number of Jurchens in Tongzhou was dwindling, indicating that the main force of the enemy army had obviously found another target. This target was not difficult to guess; they had clearly infiltrated Beijing. He dared not delay and quickly reported his findings and speculations to the court, asking the emperor if he needed to lead troops back to defend the city.

Zhu Youjian had been on guard for far too long, waiting for this moment. He instructed Cao Wenzhao to act according to circumstances, to proceed as he saw fit, and not to rush back to defend, but to inflict as many casualties as possible on the Jurchens. Tongzhou was forty li from the capital, a distance that could be reached by infantry in a day and a night, and by cavalry in just a few hours. In a large-scale war, the very existence of Tongzhou served as a deterrent to enemy forces in the capital.

On February 20th of the year Ji Si, Huang Taiji secretly crossed Jizhou and then Tongzhou, advancing from Shunyi County, north of Tongzhou and northeast of Beijing, to the outskirts of Beijing, and the Battle of Beijing officially began!

In fact, the Ming army had many opportunities to intercept the Jurchens along the way, but Zhu Youjian chose to force them to fight near Beijing. Beijing was such a formidable city; wouldn't it be a waste not to use it for warfare?!
Zhu Youjian lacked confidence in defending other areas, but he was absolutely certain of holding Beijing. While Emperor Daojun was thrown into a panic when Altan Khan unexpectedly attacked Beijing, Zhu Youjian, upon being ambushed by Huang Taiji, felt relieved, his mood improved, and he even had the leisure to joke and laugh with his ministers.

However, the court officials couldn't understand the emperor's bizarre ideas. At the time, the situation was excellent, and the emperor was devastated, as if his parents had died. They admitted they had misjudged the situation; the emperor wasn't being overly pessimistic, and had indeed predicted the Jurchens' movements.

But now that the enemy is at the gates, you can't be this happy, can you? It's incredibly humiliating to have the capital attacked! What will the local officials think? They'll think the Ming Dynasty is doomed! The emperor ignored all advice and recklessly granted power to the princes. Won't these princes seize the opportunity to rebel, using the pretext of protecting the emperor to actually purge the court of corrupt officials?!

"Gentlemen, do not worry. Our royal army will surely win this battle! As long as the civil officials perform their duties diligently and the military generals fight bravely, we will surely defeat the Jurchens."

Order to the three armies:

Anyone who captures or kills the Jurchen chieftain Huang Taiji will be granted the title of Duke, a hereditary title, and rewarded with ten thousand taels of gold and a thousand acres of fertile land! Anyone who beheads Amin, Mangultai, or Daišan will be granted the title of Marquis! All other Jurchen leaders, large and small, who kill will be rewarded, with generous titles bestowed upon them!

(End of this chapter)