Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 101 Two Dragons Meet, One Dragon Gallops Away (Part 1)
Just as Zhu Jue and Lu Xiang-sheng were discussing how to launch a surprise attack while the Jurchens were exhausted from their long journey, a thunderous sound of horses' hooves suddenly came from the valley to the east.

Are these guys crazy?
So what if there are many cavalrymen? Who are they trying to scare?
This is a siege battle, not a field skirmish!
He slowly stood up, raised his hand, and said, "The large telescope."

Wang Chengen quickly took out a large telescope and presented it with both hands.

He took the binoculars and scanned the valley to the east, instantly becoming interested.

Yellow background with dragon pattern, no border, Plain Yellow Banner!
Is Huang Taiji here?
He scanned the area carefully and spotted a man wearing golden cotton armor among the thousands of cavalrymen.

This person must be Huang Taiji without a doubt, because no one else was wearing a golden cotton armor.

The Jurchen cavalry did not wear chainmail or armor, but rather cotton armor.

This type of cotton armor was made entirely of cotton inside and out, with iron plates sandwiched in the middle and secured with copper nails. It was actually very strong in terms of defense, as it could not be penetrated by musket bullets at that time. Moreover, this cotton armor was also very warm, and wearing it in winter was much more comfortable than wearing chainmail or armor.

What is Huang Taiji doing here?

This guy brazenly rode his horse to within two miles of the city wall before reining in his horse and raising his hand to gaze at Jizhou City.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Jue immediately aimed his binoculars at the man and carefully adjusted the focus. He had trouble adjusting the focus when the man was galloping away, but now that he had stopped, he could see him clearly.

This guy looked to be in his early thirties, with a ruddy complexion, bright eyes, and a rather robust build; he was quite strong.

He glanced at the guy's expression again and couldn't help but curl his lip.

This is all because this guy looks extremely confident, almost to the point of being inexplicably confident, as if the magnificent city of Jizhou is nothing at all and can be taken over easily.

Where does your confidence come from?
If it weren't for those traitors who colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country helping you, could you have easily taken Zunhua City?

Do you think Jizhou City can be taken so easily, just like Zunhua City?
Tomorrow morning I will show you what the true elite Ming army is all about.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sneer, "Jian Dou, look at Huang Taiji's expression. It's as if he could take Jizhou City with a wave of his hand."

Uh, this is a meeting of two dragons!
Lu Xiang-sheng held up his binoculars and looked closely before cautiously saying, "This bandit chief probably thinks that the spies in the city can help him break through the city, just like the spies in Zunhua City."

That bandit chief is right.

Zhu Jue nodded slowly and said, "Yes, tonight you should tell Yu Ji to be on high alert. If any spies dare to cause trouble, kill them without mercy."

Lu Xiang-sheng nodded quickly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Zhu Jue raised his binoculars again and scanned the area. It seemed that Huang Taiji had seen enough, and the man had already turned his horse around and headed to the foot of the mountain a mile away.

He immediately handed the binoculars to Lu Xiang-sheng and said coldly, "Remember the location of this guy's camp. Tonight, have the cavalry go there to stir up trouble and keep him awake."

Well, as expected, the two dragons cannot meet.

Lu Xiang-sheng quickly took the binoculars and examined them closely.

Huang Taiji never expected that he would be targeted after just one glance outside the east gate of Jizhou City.

He was very confident because they had all made contact with the Shanxi merchants. Changbao was only two or three hundred miles away from the Shanxi merchants' stronghold, a journey that could be completed in a day by horse. It was incredibly convenient for them to send intelligence to the merchants.

Nowadays, fighting the Ming army is too easy for them. It's like they've been given a cheat code. Not only do they know the layout of the defense lines and the deployment of troops perfectly, but the Shanxi merchants have even arranged spies for them.

The reason he ordered the cavalry to come first was not just to scare the Ming army. His main purpose was to let the spies in the city know that they were coming so that they could make preparations. At the same time, the cavalry could also cut down trees to prepare siege equipment for the infantry.

They had tried this tactic in Zunhua before, and it worked quite well. The infantry took Zunhua in one night, which saved them a lot of time.

The reason he was so eager to take Jizhou was to prevent the young Ming emperor from sending reinforcements. If tens of thousands of Ming troops were stationed inside the heavily fortified city of Jizhou, even if there were spies within the city, it would be very difficult for them to take it.

The reason he didn't go to Santunying, a city with a height of only one zhang, was not because the Shanxi merchants from Shanxi hadn't arranged spies for them in Santunying.

There were also spies planted by Shanxi merchants in Santunying. The key point is that there were more than 10,000 troops stationed there, and it was only about 200 li away from Shanhaiguan.

Wang Zhichen, the Governor-General of Jiliao, is in Shanhaiguan. If he receives the news and immediately mobilizes the Guan Ning cavalry to support Santunying, it will only take two days at most.

It would take their infantry two days to travel from Zunhua to Santunying, by which time reinforcements from Liaodong would likely have already arrived, rendering the spies planted by the Shanxi merchants in Santunying largely useless.

If they cannot take Santunying within a few days, then they will be in big trouble. Once the elite infantry of Liaodong arrives, their forces will be able to rival theirs.

The longer they fought in the capital region of the Ming Dynasty, the more they would suffer, because their forces would dwindle while the Ming army's forces would grow stronger.

In other words, the only way for them to gain an advantage in this battle is to win quickly and reach the capital of the Ming Dynasty before reinforcements from other border towns arrive.

Therefore, he chose to quickly take over Jizhou City.

He knew very well that there were only a little over 5,000 troops garrisoned in Jizhou City, and behind Jizhou City was the capital of the Ming Dynasty, which only had 10,000 cavalrymen that could be mobilized.

When the young emperor of the Ming Dynasty heard that he had already attacked all the way to Zunhua, would he still dare to send 10,000 cavalrymen from the capital to reinforce Jizhou City?
If even 10,000 cavalrymen from the capital couldn't hold Jizhou City, then the capital of the Ming Dynasty would be practically defenseless. Not to mention the inner city being breached, the outer city, which was still under construction in the north, would definitely be torn to pieces by them.

He would hesitate in this situation too.

The reason he ran to the east gate was to see if the young emperor of the Ming Dynasty had sent reinforcements.

As a result, this made him even more confident.

This is because the eastern city wall of Jizhou was not densely covered with Ming soldiers.

Judging from the numbers, it's roughly four or five thousand.

Therefore, he judged that the young emperor of the Ming Dynasty had not yet sent reinforcements.

He felt that his strategy of attacking Jizhou City first was flawless.

Since this strategy is sound, we need to start building siege equipment as soon as possible.

The infantry will arrive by tomorrow afternoon, and they will attack the city tomorrow night. If they don't have siege equipment, how will they climb the more than three-zhang-high city wall?
So he ran back and immediately ordered the Eight Banners cavalry to quickly set up their camps, and then to cut down trees and timber to build siege weapons without stopping for a moment.

The reason he misjudged the situation was because Zhu Jue had been strictly controlling the information from the very beginning when he recruited soldiers from the Beijing garrison.

The officials in the Ming Dynasty court could only see the 10,000 cavalrymen of the capital garrison stationed at the Great Training Ground in the south of the city. As for the 50,000 troops stationed at the Great Training Ground in the east of the city, they had not left since the start of their training, so who could see them?
He even had Lu Xiang-sheng strictly seal off the East City Military Training Ground, preventing unauthorized personnel from even entering through the gate. In addition, Wei Zhongxian was constantly staking out and checking for spies on the perimeter. It's likely that the traitors within the Ming Dynasty court didn't even know there was a military training ground in the east of the city.

Huang Taiji misjudged the situation, and this left the Eight Banners cavalry exhausted.

They quickly set up their camp and then busied themselves cutting down trees and building ladders. They worked until the sun went down and their hands and feet were sore that they stopped to cook.

On the city wall of Jizhou, Zhu Jue looked at the scattered bonfires all over the mountains and fields, and couldn't help but sneer.

Sometimes, using an inside agent to cheat can also have drawbacks. If the inside agent fails to deliver important intelligence in time, or if the intelligence delivered is wrong, then the agent may suffer a great loss.

It seems that Huang Taiji had no idea that reinforcements had arrived.

He's determined to make Huang Taiji suffer a great loss this time!
(End of this chapter)