Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 228 Seizing the Opportunity to Counterattack the Jurchens (Part 2)

Huang Taiji never expected that the young emperor of the Ming Dynasty would use the river to transport troops and chariots, and that they would travel more than 100 to nearly 200 miles directly towards Liaoyang City and the Taizi River line.

This is because no one had ever done this before.

There are precedents for using waterways to transport people and horses.

Many people do this.

However, he was not afraid of centaurs alone.

After conquering the Tatar tribes, he didn't rest. He didn't waste the captured warhorses either. Now their cavalry numbered more than 50,000, and he had recruited 30,000 cavalry from each of the Tatar tribes.

In other words, they had as many as 80,000 to 90,000 cavalry alone, while the Ming cavalry stationed in Liaodong Town only numbered 40,000 to 50,000. If they didn't have chariots, he wouldn't be afraid even if all the troops in Liaodong Town were transported over by river.

He truly never imagined that the young emperor of the Ming Dynasty would use the river to transport war chariots.

The chariots are such big things that a 400-ton warship can only fit two at most. If you want to transport chariots that are enough to threaten 80,000 or 90,000 cavalry, how many ships would be needed to transport them back and forth?

He had never seen a fleet of hundreds or thousands of ships, let alone knew how fast ships could go. The fleets he had seen were small fleets of the Liaodong Navy, mainly consisting of 400-ton warships, and they were all small oar-powered warships.

The Liaodong Navy's small fleet didn't even have many warships with a capacity of 400 liang. Even if they were all used to pull chariots, they could only pull 40 or 50 chariots at a time, and they could only travel 40 or 50 li a day at most. It would take at least four or five days to travel from the Haichengwei line to the Liaoyang City and Taizi River line.

If the Ming army had built a pontoon bridge across the Xiaohai River, the cavalry could have advanced to Liaoyang City in a little over an hour, and the chariots could have reached Liaoyang City in a little over a day at most.

He might not be able to react in a day or so, but in four or five days, his reinforcements would have arrived in Liaoyang City long ago. Therefore, he never thought that the Ming army would use ships to pull chariots to launch a surprise attack on Liaoyang City and the Taizi River line.

At this moment, his attention was focused on the Xiaohai River. He had arranged countless scouts, both overt and covert, on the north bank of the Xiaohai River. Once the Ming army built a pontoon bridge to cross the river, he would surely receive the news very quickly.

Little did they know that the Ming army in Liaodong seemed to be making no move at all, but that was only because there was no movement along the Xiaohai River.

Right now, there's been a huge commotion on the east bank of the main Liao River between Liaohai City and Liaohe City.

Sun Chuanting mobilized 50,000 cavalrymen and 2,500 war chariots from the capital garrison before the snow and ice had completely melted, and set up camp in a location far from the villages.

The main camp of the Beijing garrison seemed to occupy an area of ​​more than ten miles long and two or three miles wide along the riverbank. The outer chariots were blocked like a city wall, and the inside was also densely packed with tents. From a distance, it was impossible to see what was going on inside.

The section of the Liao River he chose was over two hundred zhang wide, and it was impossible to see what was going on on the west bank without a telescope.

If Huang Taiji knew what was going on inside, he would probably have guessed something, because the 50,000 chariot soldiers were building docks at the widest part of the river. Those densely packed docks could accommodate at least a hundred ships of 800 liang each at a time.

Immediately afterwards, Sun Chuanting quietly began recruiting new soldiers again.

He needed to recruit as many as 50,000 men, so how could he do it so quietly?
This is actually quite simple. He only recruits a dozen or so young men in each village, and instead of gathering them together for training, he disperses them to various cities to report for duty, where they are taken by veteran officers of all ranks to serve as garrison troops and teach them.

In other words, there was no training session for new recruits this time. The 50,000 new recruits were directly taken to the garrisoned cities and fortresses, incorporated into the garrison, and trained on-site by the garrison officers.

In this way, even the spies that the Jurchens had planted in various cities would not know that he was recruiting troops on a large scale, let alone that he was gathering veterans.

Because each time it was just a few coming and a few going, or a few coming and a few dozen going, the number of garrison troops in each city did not change much. Who would have thought that he was recruiting men on a large scale and gathering veterans?

While his veterans were just beginning to assemble, five hundred small merchant ships were also completed in the capital.

Zhu Juena also secretly sent war chariots and recruited troops to Liaodong.

He even ordered the Beijing garrison to start loading the chariots onto ships before dawn every day. After the chariots were pushed onto the ships, bags of grain were piled up on top of and around them, covering the chariots tightly, just like piles of grain.

Moreover, he did not send out all 500 small Zhiyuan merchant ships at once, but rather 100 ships at a time, with each group departing about every half day.

In this way, the five hundred small Zhiyuan merchant ships looked like a fleet of ships hauling grain to Liaodong, and the fleet seemed to consist of only about a hundred ships, not a large fleet.

He was acting discreetly, and Sun Chuanting was cooperating with him.

After the first batch of 5,000 tanks were transported there, Sun Chuanting arranged for them to be placed in the enclosed camp on the east bank of the Liao River, where they were completely invisible to outsiders.

After the 100,000 cavalrymen and 5,000 chariots from the capital were brought over, he divided the chariots and cavalrymen into two groups and stationed them in Liaohai City and Liaohe City respectively. He also ordered the cavalrymen to cover the chariots with grain, so that they looked like piles of grain.

The newly built Liaohai City and Liaohe City can easily house over 100,000 troops. Fifty thousand chariot soldiers and two thousand five hundred war chariots can be packed in in batches without being noticeable at all.

Moreover, the Liaodong Garrison already had over 200,000 to nearly 300,000 troops, and it didn't seem wrong that the two newly built large cities of Liaohai and Liaohe each had 50,000 troops stationed there.

The news Huang Taiji received was that Sun Chuanting was constantly mobilizing troops in various places. The garrison in Liaohai City and Liaohe City had reached about 50,000. Moreover, Sun Chuanting had also gathered 50,000 to 60,000 chariot soldiers and several thousand war chariots in a certain place on the east bank of Liaodong, surrounding a riverbank that was more than ten miles long and two or three miles wide. No one knew what he was up to.

This was nothing to Huang Taiji, because his previous intelligence indicated that the young emperor of the Ming Dynasty had dispatched 70,000 to 80,000 chariot soldiers and several thousand chariots to Liaodong, and that these chariot soldiers and chariots had even lined up on the south bank of the Xiaohai River to block them. He had already seen these chariot soldiers and chariots.

Armored chariots are indeed the nemesis of cavalry. What the enemy is doing there is not important to them. As long as the enemy does not push them across the Xiaohai River and advance towards Liaoyang City, that is fine.

As a result, the fifty to sixty thousand chariot soldiers and several thousand armored vehicles remained stationed there without moving.

The soldiers and civilians in Liaodong Town have already started spring plowing, but they haven't moved yet.

Sun Chuanting didn't seem to care about that side. He just went around inspecting the spring plowing progress every day. His figure could be seen in the Haichengwei area, the Gaizhouwei area, the Liaohe River to the Santaizi River, and even the Santaizi River to the Daling River.

He kept patrolling and patrolling until spring plowing was almost over, and he was still patrolling.

Could Huang Taiji have imagined that the Ming army would launch a major counterattack after receiving this intelligence from the traitor?

This is precisely the purpose of the spies Zhu Jue left behind: what they wanted the spies to see, the spies could see; what they didn't want the spies to see, the spies couldn't see.

The intelligence that the traitor passed on to Huang Taiji was actually false intelligence that they wanted to pass on to him!

Huang Taiji assumed that Sun Chuanting had been focusing on military farming and grain production, and that the 50,000 troops stationed in Liaohe City and Liaohai City were probably to prevent Sun from launching a counterattack during the spring planting season.

Liaohe City can support the Xiaohaihe line, Liaohai City can support the Gaizhouwei to Jinzhouwei line, and even the Jinzhouwei to Zhenjiangbao line. If he launches a counterattack at this time, he will definitely have no chance at all.

More importantly, there are only about 200,000 troops in total in Liaodong: 50,000 in Liaohe City, 50,000 in Liaohai City, 40,000 to 50,000 in western Liaodong, 40,000 to 50,000 in southern Liaodong, and another 50,000 to 60,000 on the east bank of the Liaohe River. That's about it.

It seems that the Liaodong army is entirely stationed, except for the fifty or sixty thousand chariot soldiers and several thousand chariots on the east bank of the Liao River, whose whereabouts are unknown.

However, the fifty to sixty thousand chariots and thousands of warships remained stationed there without moving, showing no intention whatsoever of advancing northward.

Under these circumstances, he was naturally at ease. As long as the fifty or sixty thousand chariot soldiers and several thousand chariots did not move, he was not afraid even if all the remaining troops in Liaodong Town rushed over!
Little did he know that Sun Chuanting's wandering around was a ploy to attract his attention, while Sun Yingyuan and Zhou Yuji were training 100,000 Liaodong and Dongjiang army chariot soldiers on the east bank of the Liao River, and 100,000 Beijing garrison chariot soldiers had already been transported over in batches.

In other words, the number of chariot troops in Liaodong Town at this time was no longer 70,000 or 80,000, but 270,000 or 280,000.

This is the importance of intelligence.

Historically, with the help of traitors, Huang Taiji was well-informed about the Ming army's situation. Moreover, these traitors frequently assisted him during major battles. As a result, he almost always won easily against the Ming army; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he won without lifting a finger.

Otherwise, how could the Jurchens, with a total population of less than 500,000, possibly defeat the Ming Dynasty, which had a population of hundreds of millions?

The reason his small force was able to repeatedly defeat the Ming army was thanks to the help of traitors.

The message the traitor was giving him was false; how could he not fall for it?

To lull Huang Taiji into a false sense of security, Sun Chuanting kept the 50,000 chariots and 2,500 war chariots stationed on the east bank of the Liao River still stationary until Huang Taiji's troops were finally deployed.

One day in early June, around dawn, as the sky was just beginning to lighten, the port of Liaohai City was already filled with chariots, and the chariot soldiers were densely packed around the chariots.

With a wave of command flags, the chariots were quickly pushed onto the ships, and the small merchant ships also took turns docking, continuously loading chariots and soldiers from the capital garrison.

Before dawn, five hundred Zhiyuan merchant ships, fully loaded with two thousand five hundred chariots and fifty thousand garrison troops from the capital, set off.

After crossing the Xiaohai River, the main Liao River section remained outside the border wall. The Jurchens primarily focused on attacking and were not skilled at repairing city walls. More importantly, the Jurchens had few infantrymen, and the section of the border wall between Haichengwei and Liaoyang was already dilapidated and unguarded.

Their fleet sailed around the border wall and into the Prince River basin before being discovered by the Jurchens.

By then, it was too late.

The chariots in the front row sped towards the south bank of the Taizi River. The soldiers on them used marked wooden poles to probe the water and quickly found the right depth. They then lowered the pre-prepared supports into the water, and then placed the pre-prepared thick wooden planks on the supports, and the temporary dock was set up.

They pushed the chariots ashore at breakneck speed, before Liaoyang had even received the news, let alone Shenyang.

Soon, they occupied the south bank of the Taizi River west of Liaoyang City. The small square formations of more than a hundred chariots stretched from the confluence of the Taizi River and the Liao River to a point five or six miles west of Liaoyang City. The Jurchen cavalry could no longer think of building a pontoon bridge to cross the river from this side.

Zhu Jue's strategy of seizing the opportunity to enter the city seemed to have succeeded. At least, when 50,000 chariot soldiers pushed 2,500 chariots ashore, the Liaoyang city defenders did not have time to react.

At this point, they were no longer afraid of a reaction from the Liaoyang garrison, because half of the Jingying chariot soldiers were now equipped with muskets, and their chariots were also equipped with small cannons. Even if the Liaoyang garrison came out in full force, they would only be beaten.

As for Shenyang, it's uncertain when they'll receive the news. Even if Huang Taiji immediately assembles his troops and rushes here after receiving the news, it won't be within a few hours.

(End of this chapter)