Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 247 Amin Abandoned, Prisoners Everywhere (Part 1)

Amin is indeed preparing to break through.

He was truly forced into a corner.

The food supplies in Liaoyang City are almost exhausted. Even if all the soldiers drink only clear water and thin porridge, they won't be able to last for many more meals.

For some reason, Huang Taiji neither sent grain nor reinforcements.

He could only send out all his fast riders, who scattered and galloped northwards at breakneck speed.
This time, he wasn't as tactful as before. He directly told Huang Taiji: "The city is out of food and desperately needs reinforcements. If there are no reinforcements within three days, I will have no choice but to lead my troops to break out of the city!"
Why didn't Huang Taiji send troops to rescue them?
Even if he disliked Amin and wanted to kill him, there was no need to drag 50,000 infantrymen in Liaoyang City down with him, was there?

Actually, Huang Taiji didn't not want to come to the rescue; he simply couldn't.

Amin believed that the reason he didn't send anyone to deliver food or provide relief was because Amin hadn't seen it.

He sent people to test the waters many times, starting even before the ice was frozen, trying both water and land routes.

The problem is that no matter how many grains he sends, they seem to be discovered by the Ming army as soon as they get within ten miles of the north bank of the Taizi River.

Their grain delivery teams kept getting trapped in the Ming army's encirclements, and they lost countless fast boats and grain carts.

He tried it after Liaodong froze, but the result was the same.

The north bank of the Taizi River appears to be nothing but ice and snow, but as soon as their grain delivery convoys enter the area of ​​more than ten miles north of the Taizi River, the Ming cavalry will surely arrive!

He had no idea how the Ming army had discovered them.
Under such circumstances, how could he possibly evade the Ming army and deliver the grain to Liaoyang City?

As for mobilizing a large army to support Liaoyang, that's a joke.

If we can't even get the grain over there, what's the point of sending more troops?
The more troops there are, the more food they consume. Liaoyang City already doesn't have enough food, and he's mobilizing a large army to consume more food in Liaoyang City? Isn't that a joke?
Of course, he had another option: to mobilize a large army to escort the grain to Liaoyang City, and then return along the same route after the grain was delivered.

He really didn't dare to choose this one.

This was because he already vaguely knew that the number of Ming troops gathered in Liaodong was more than 300,000, and the number of Ming troops gathered along the Liaoyang City and Taizi River alone was estimated to be more than 300,000.

His forces, including the 50,000 in Liaoyang, totaled less than 200,000. If the 50,000 in Liaoyang were excluded, the total would be less than 150,000.

In other words, even if he mobilized all the troops outside Liaoyang City, it would still be less than half the size of the Ming army.

The key issue is that the Ming army had an astonishing number of chariots; there were tens of thousands just from what they could see. Their cavalry advantage was completely negated. Even if they fought the Ming army in the open field, their cavalry would be defeated by so many chariots.

Under these circumstances, would he dare to risk mobilizing a large army to escort the grain to Liaoyang City?

When he mobilized a large army to escort grain to Liaoyang City, it wasn't enough to simply deliver the grain to the outside of Liaoyang City. Even if the grain wasn't unloaded from the grain carts, the entire cart had to be pulled into Liaoyang City.

It takes time for the grain carts to enter the city. If the Ming army suddenly swarms in when they bring the grain carts into the city, or takes the opportunity to blockade the area north of Liaoyang, they may be completely wiped out!
Would he dare to gamble on something like that?
Historically, Emperor Chongzhen was a madman who dared to gamble on anything, which is why the Ming Dynasty eventually perished.

He's not crazy; he naturally wouldn't dare gamble on something that could result in total annihilation.

However, after receiving Amin's urgent and heartfelt report, he had some ideas.

If Amin leads his troops to break out, the Ming army will definitely surround and suppress them. At that time, the Liaoyang defenders will inevitably break out in a chaotic manner to escape, and the area north of Liaoyang will be thrown into chaos. The Ming army will inevitably be scattered as a result.

If he can take the opportunity to defeat the scattered Ming troops one by one, then he may still win this battle.

Perhaps some people will think that he is being delusional.

Is this a joke? Less than 150,000 men, and they think they can defeat at least 300,000 Ming troops?

He wasn't just daydreaming; historical facts are proof enough.

During the Battle of Sarhu, the Ming army assembled more than 100,000 elite border troops, claiming to number 200,000.

At that time, their total military strength was less than 50,000. Yet, they still managed to defeat the Ming army by defeating them one by one.

Therefore, this was not wishful thinking on his part; it was just that he hadn't encountered a problematic emperor like Wanli or a problematic commander like Yang Hao.

Zhu Jue was not like Wanli. Instead of constantly urging Sun Chuanting, he advised Sun Chuanting to be careful.

Sun Chuanting was not like Yang Hao. He was an exceptionally calm and composed commander, and after receiving the emperor's reply, he became even more cautious.

He even ordered his men to expand the reconnaissance range of the hidden sentries to more than 30 miles north of the Taizi River overnight.

As for why Huang Taiji felt that the north bank of the Taizi River was just a frozen wasteland with nothing there, it was because the spies he sent out were too well hidden.

Or rather, Zhu Jue equipped the scouts of the Beijing garrison and the Liaodong army with too much equipment.

Nowadays, the scouts of the Beijing Garrison and the Liaodong Army are all in pairs. They have large binoculars, sheepskin coats that cover their whole bodies, snow-white cloaks, waterproof tarpaulins, specially made snow shovels and ice saws, and food such as dried meat and rock sugar to keep them full.

These two scouts, wrapped in snow-white cloaks, moved through the icy and snowy landscape so well that they blended seamlessly into the surrounding ice and snow, and could not be detected unless one looked closely.

Moreover, the sentries specifically chose a small hill that was higher than the ground. They first dug out a snow pit, then covered the snow pit with snow bricks, making the outside of it blend into the hill like building an igloo, leaving only holes for reconnaissance and hand signals.

Such hidden sentries cannot be detected if they are more than a hundred paces away. Even if the enemy gets within a hundred paces, it doesn't matter. As long as the pre-prepared snow blocks are used to block the holes, the enemy will not be able to detect them unless they trample the snow house.

Huang Taiji still wanted to defeat his enemies one by one, but his secretly assembled army was discovered by scouts just over forty miles from the north bank of the Taizi River.

Upon receiving the news, Sun Chuanting became even more certain that the Jurchens in Liaoyang were planning to break out of the city.

He immediately mobilized most of his chariot troops to the Liaoyang Left Guard and Liaoyang Right Guard on both sides of Liaoyang City, while leaving 30,000 chariot troops to guard the Liaoyang Rear Guard south of Liaoyang City!
Three days later, no grain carts were seen coming from the direction of Shenyang, and there was no sign of reinforcements. Left with no other choice, Amin had to break through the siege.

Early that morning, around dawn, he gathered all his troops inside the north gate of Liaoyang City.

Around 7 a.m., as the sun began to rise, he ordered his men to open the north gate and lower the drawbridge. Then he led his troops out in a rush, heading straight for Shenyang.

At this time, the Ming army in the Liaoyang Left Guard City and Liaoyang Right Guard City, which are more than ten miles away on both sides of Liaoyang City, had also begun preparations long ago.

This was all because when Amin ordered the guards on the city wall to go down and assemble, they were discovered by the Ming army's scouts.

There's no one left on the city wall. Do we even need to ask what the Jurchens inside are up to?

Upon receiving the news, Sun Chuanting immediately issued an order, commanding the Ming troops stationed at the Left and Right Garrisons of Liaoyang to prepare for an attack.

When the Jurchens in Liaoyang began to gather at the north gate, the Ming troops in the Liaoyang Left Guard and Liaoyang Right Guard also began to gather at various city gates. As the Jurchens in Liaoyang swarmed out of the north gate, the Ming troops in the Liaoyang Left Guard and Liaoyang Right Guard also swarmed out of the north gate, the east and west gates, and even the south gate.

A major battle that would determine the fate of Liaodong began quietly.

This battle is somewhat similar to the historical Battle of Songjin.

However, in the historical Battle of Songjin, the Ming army was besieged in Jinzhou, while in this case, the Jurchens are besieged in Liaoyang.

When the Ming army commander ran out of food in the city, he also chose to break out. Hong Chengchou pretended to lead the last 100,000 elite border troops of the Ming Dynasty to rescue them, but they inexplicably collapsed on the way!

What will be the outcome this time?

Would Huang Taiji lead the last 100,000-plus Jurchen troops to the rescue?

As for the inexplicable collapse of the Jurchen army of over 100,000 men, that's out of the question.

The reason why the Ming army in the Battle of Songjin suddenly collapsed was because the commander Hong Chengchou had problems.

Huang Taiji was definitely not the problem; he would never allow his more than 100,000 troops to collapse for no reason.

(End of this chapter)