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

Chapter 166 Huang Taiji: Are you scared?! Zhu Youjian: I bet your gun is empty!
The emperor's decree greatly inspired the entire army. Emperor Zhu Youjian was a man of good faith; at least he kept his promises and treated his soldiers quite well.

Thanks to the deliberate propaganda of certain individuals, the soldiers also learned the story of the emperor's frugality in saving funds for their army. In the minds of the lower-ranking soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, the current emperor was living a miserable life, even worse off than a wealthy landowner in the countryside.

The Empress of the East Palace weaves cloth, the Empress of the West Palace steams buns, and even that single clove of garlic is planted by the Emperor himself in the Imperial Garden with a shovel. There are no oxen to plow the land, so the Emperor has to be a beast of burden. It's truly a miserable situation!

Zhu Youjian swore that this was absolutely not the original content he had promoted; it was an overstatement, and the mistake was made by those below who had doubled down on the execution.

Dorgon is still hanging at Zhengyang Gate. Some ministers have suggested killing him as a sacrifice to the banners, but Zhu Youjian is reluctant, feeling that killing him so easily would be too lenient. Zhengyang Gate is the south gate of the inner city, protected by the outer city, and there's no possibility of it being taken away by the Jurchens. Zhu Youjian even considered moving it to a place where the Jurchens could see it.

The shape of Beijing is a square plus a rectangle. The rectangular outer city in the south is about half the size of the inner city and a little more. Originally, it was planned to be a nested structure like a "回" (hui) character, but the outer city was only half-built when the funds ran out, leaving it as an unfinished project.

It's understandable that the Ming Dynasty couldn't afford to build a new capital, since Beijing was its second capital, while Nanjing was well-maintained. Furthermore, Zhu Di (Emperor Yongle) was fond of northern expeditions and lacked funds for capital construction. However, it's quite laughable that the Manchus also couldn't afford to build a new capital after they came to power. Not only did they not expand Beijing, they even shrank it inwards, opening up the inner city, which originally housed the imperial court, into the Manchu city.

This isn't surprising, after all, this isn't their home. When robbers come to someone else's house, they only think about destruction, not building anything. They're ready to run back to their hometown in Northeast China at any time.

The capital city was the heart of the Ming Empire, and its loss was not to be underestimated. Huang Taiji's surprise attack on Beijing, drawing his sword and pressing it against the heart of the Ming Empire, was enough to send chills down the spines of the entire Ming court. Putting himself in the other's shoes, Huang Taiji felt that if he were besieged in Shengjing, he would probably find it difficult to remain calm, so he believed he had regained the right to negotiate.

However, while the Jurchens put the Ming Dynasty in danger, their own situation was not good either. This time, they penetrated deep into the capital, but they did not advance smoothly all the way. Behind them, there were still important nodes such as Tongzhou, Jizhou, and Santun that they had not captured. They were at risk of having their retreat blocked or being surrounded and killed at any time.

The current situation is like Huang Taiji pointing a knife at Zhu Youjian, but Huang Taiji also has a musket pointed at his head from behind. It's time to test who has more courage, who can withstand more beatings, and who will back down first.

Siege warfare remained a weakness for the Jurchens, who lacked effective methods of attack. In Liaodong, they relied on traitors to open the city gates, but this tactic was ineffective in Beijing. He had several partners in the Ming capital, but these people were already willing to provide him with as much information as possible; expecting them to open the city gates was unrealistic.

Without an internal traitor, they could only launch a direct assault. As long as they were fearless and willing to fight to the death, they might be able to capture the city even if the corpses piled up to the city walls. However, this tactic was ineffective in Beijing; it was only suitable for smaller cities or fortified towns, as Beijing's city walls were ten meters high and the moat outside was fifty meters wide. This time, as they advanced on Beijing, Huang Taiji further streamlined his forces, bringing only 30,000 cavalry. These 30,000 cavalry were the most elite troops from his entire Eight Banners, including 3,000 White-Armored Bannermen and 8,000 Red-Armored Bannermen. Each White-Armored Bannermen unit selected only three to five men, each said to be capable of taking on a hundred men.

Huang Taiji led his army on a circumnavigation of Beijing, both to announce his arrival and put pressure on the Ming Dynasty, and to observe the city's defenses for weaknesses and to find a suitable point of attack. However, after circling the city, he found that Beijing's defenses were impeccable, the soldiers on the city walls were in high spirits and had no weaknesses.

The outer city walls of Beijing were significantly lower than those of the inner city, the moat was narrower, and even the garrison was much weaker. However, he did not choose to attack from the south because even if they breached the outer city, it would be of little use. The outer city was essentially a massive barbican; even if they managed to enter, they would likely be surrounded and overwhelmed.

Therefore, the construction of the outer city was still very meaningful, as it could deter the enemy from attacking and save the defending forces. After much deliberation, Huang Taiji finally chose Desheng Gate in the northwest as the direction of his first main attack, and this choice was actually the result of Zhu Xieyuan's deliberate design and guidance.

The commander in charge of guarding Deshengmen was Zhao Shuaijiao, the general of Shanhaiguan. The reason why Huang Taiji was able to attack here was that the main force of the capital's cavalry was stationed outside Deshengmen.

Huang Taiji lacked confidence in capturing Beijing, so he planned to annihilate all of Beijing's cavalry in one fell swoop. Without cavalry, Beijing would be an isolated city. Then, by cutting off its internal and external forces and besieging it to intercept reinforcements, the young emperor of the Ming Dynasty would be at his mercy!

The Ming troops defending the city acted with considerable restraint. Even when Huang Taiji provoked them by patrolling the city, he did not provoke the Ming army into battle. The supreme commander of the defense of Beijing was Zhu Xieyuan, the Minister of War and Second Grand Secretary of the Cabinet. Of course, Zhu Youjian, as the emperor, possessed supreme power, but he was sensible and would not directly interfere with the command.

The commander-in-chief was Marquis Qin Liangyu, because even though the battlefield was right outside Beijing, unexpected situations could arise. War is unpredictable and allows no delay.

Zhao Shuaijiao had 8,000 cavalry: 500 personal guards, 3,000 elite cavalry from Yulin, 1,000 cavalry from Datong, 1,000 cavalry from Xuanfu, 800 cavalry from Shanxi, 700 iron cavalry from Guyuan, 300 iron cavalry from Gansu, and 300 iron cavalry from Ningxia!
At dawn on the 21st, Huang Taiji led his army to attack the city, launching a surprise attack on the Ming cavalry camp outside Desheng Gate. Zhao Shuaijiao did not dare to be careless. He hadn't even taken off his clothes while sleeping. Upon learning that the Jurchens were attacking, he got up and began to command his army to meet the enemy.

The Ming cavalry were well prepared and did not panic when attacked. However, Huang Taiji chose a tricky time to attack. The Ming cavalry were nervous when facing the enemy for the first time. They did not sleep well at night and got up at dawn to fight. They were tired and hungry.

Huang Taiji's attack this time was no bluff; he deployed his elite troops at the front. Zhao Shuaijiao followed a similar strategy, also sending his most elite cavalry to the forefront. Du Hongyu, the deputy commander of Yansui, led three thousand Yulin cavalry against Huang Taiji's son, Hauge, who led three thousand White-Armored Bayara soldiers!
Behind and to the left and right, reinforcements followed closely, ready to add fuel to the fire at any moment. Sun Chuanting, the commander of Andingmen, led a 6,000-man chariot formation composed of the elite troops of the Fifth Army Battalion, slowly moving towards Deshengmen. On the city wall, the original 800-jin cannons were pushed aside and replaced with newly cast 3,500-jin Hongyi cannons!
(End of this chapter)